NASA's Swift telescope falls back to Earth after nearly 22 years in space

[Mia98]

A hard working space telescope has come to the end of its journey. ScienceDaily reports that NASA's Swift observatory re-entered the atmosphere over North Sumatra in Indonesia on Wednesday 4 November, confirmed by the US Space Force

Swift launched in 2004 with three telescopes for a planned two year mission. It ended up working for nearly 22 years, more than ten times longer than planned

It was built to chase gamma ray bursts, enormous explosions from collapsing stars and merging neutron stars. Swift could swing round quickly and alert observatories around the world, so they could study each burst before it faded

Over the years it also studied active galaxies, flaring stars, supernovae, comets and asteroids. NASA expected most of it to burn up, though some parts might have survived, and there are no reports of debris being found

Lasting more than ten times its planned life is a tribute to the engineers who built Swift. Its fast alerts helped make gamma ray burst science what it is today. It is a timely reminder too, as NASA looks for ways to keep Hubble in orbit

What is your favourite long lasting space mission? And should NASA do more to extend the lives of old observatories?

NASA's Swift telescope falls to Earth after nearly 22 years in spacewww.sciencedaily.com