NASA Swift telescope reentry

How the story developed

Launched in 2004, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory spent more than two decades observing astrophysics phenomena. Over its operational lifetime, the telescope rapidly detected over 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and contributed data to approximately 7,000 published scientific papers.

In recent years, increased solar activity caused Earth's atmosphere to expand, which increased atmospheric drag on the satellite. This drag led to a rapid decay of the observatory's orbit, threatening its continued operation in space.

To address the decaying orbit, NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies initiated the Swift Boost rescue mission, a $30 million commercial effort intended to raise the aging satellite's altitude. The mission utilized a rescue spacecraft named LINK, which was designed to dock with the telescope.

On August 22, the rescue mission was officially canceled. The LINK spacecraft suffered critical reaction wheel failures, which prevented it from safely docking with the observatory.

The failure of the rescue mission sealed the observatory's fate, leaving it to succumb to atmospheric drag. Initially projected to burn up as early as October, the spacecraft continued its unpowered descent toward Earth.

What to watch

• Any surviving fragments of the spacecraft are expected to fall safely into an ocean corridor.
• The LINK spacecraft will conduct proximity operations to gather data on autonomous rendezvous techniques.