NASA's Swift Observatory to Reenter Earth's Atmosphere This Week

NASA's Swift space telescope is expected to crash back to Earth in an uncontrolled reentry within the next few days. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, launched in November 2004, spent over two decades studying gamma-ray bursts and other cosmic events.

On October 20, NASA reported that Swift's orbit had decayed to 275 kilometers above Earth. The roughly 1,500-kilogram observatory could no longer compensate for increased atmospheric drag and entered safe mode.

“It is unfortunate that Swift was not reorbited, but from a reentry hazard perspective it is a small portion of the stuff coming back in.”

A robotic rescue mission designed to boost the telescope to a higher orbit failed. Swift's operations team at Pennsylvania State University then sent a command that effectively ended its operations ahead of its destructive reentry.

Experts say the observatory will likely disintegrate sufficiently upon reentry to avoid posing a ground casualty hazard. However, internal components of its X-ray and optical telescopes might survive the fall.

The exact time and location of the reentry remain unclear. Researchers note that objects reentering Earth's atmosphere occur ten times more often per year now than they did five years ago.

Swift detected more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and studied over 1,400 supernovas during its mission. Its data contributed to approximately 7,000 scientific articles.

The satellite's fall is driven by atmospheric drag, which has been amplified by recent solar activity swelling the upper layers of the atmosphere.