NASA's Swift Observatory to re-enter Wednesday after 22 years
NASA predicts the Swift Observatory will re-enter Earth's atmosphere Nov. 4 after a failed rescue, ending 22 years of gamma-ray burst observations.
The story in focus
NASA's Swift Observatory is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere around 3:30 a.m. EST Nov. 4, 2026, after a failed rescue attempt left it in a decaying orbit, CBS News reported. Most of the telescope will burn up, with a small risk of debris reaching the surface.
- NASA expects Swift to re-enter Nov. 4 with an 11-hour uncertainty window, per CBS News.
- Most of the 3,200-pound telescope will burn up; dense tungsten and mirror parts could survive.
- NASA puts the risk of harm to anyone on Earth at roughly 1 in 2,100.
- Swift launched Nov. 20, 2004, and logged more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars.
- A Katalyst Space robotic rescue attempt failed, and the robot re-entered in September.
Re-entry forecast and risk
NASA said Monday that the U.S. Space Force predicted the roughly 3,200-pound spacecraft will re-enter around 3:30 a.m. EST Nov. 4, with an uncertainty of 11 hours, according to CBS News. Most of the 1½-ton telescope should burn up, but NASA's Brad Cenko, the mission's chief scientist, said pieces made of denser-than-lead tungsten and some mirror parts could survive.
NASA stated that the risk of harm to anyone on Earth is unlikely, at about 1 in 2,100, CBS News reported. Any surviving wreckage would most likely fall into the ocean, though parts of Africa, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America lie within the reentry zone.
Mission end and rescue attempt
Swift launched Nov. 20, 2004, to hunt gamma-ray bursts and supernovas. Intense solar activity accelerated its orbital decay, and NASA hired Katalyst Space a year ago for a rescue. The company's three-armed Link robot launched in July but got no closer than 7 to 9 miles to the telescope before re-entering in September.
Swift resumed observations after the rescue was called off, but by late October it was too low for steady observations, and its systems were shut down. NASA called Swift a first responder for other observatories, and scientists are still working out how to fill the gap.
When is Swift expected to re-enter, and how many gamma-ray bursts did it find?
NASA predicts re-entry around 3:30 a.m. EST Nov. 4, with an 11-hour uncertainty. The telescope detected more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars during its mission.
Sources & further reading
Help keep the record accurate. Send a correction.