Nasa’s 22-year-old Swift satellite telescope falls from orbit in fiery finale
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NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up over Indonesia on Wednesday, less than three months after a rescue spacecraft failed to boost it to a higher orbit.
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Why It Matters
NASA's Swift satellite spent two decades studying powerful cosmic energy blasts before its planned re-entry.
NASA's Swift satellite telescope, which spent two decades studying the most powerful known blasts of energy in the cosmos, tumbled out of orbit as expected on Wednesday and burned up in Earth's atmosphere over Indonesia, the space agency reported.
The fiery demise of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, weighing roughly 3,200 pounds (1,452kg), came less than three months after a rescue spacecraft failed its mission to boost the satellite to higher orbit and extend its life.
The US Space Force confirmed that Swift's re-entry occurred at 7.39am, as the satellite streaked into the upper atmosphere at about 22 times the speed of sound over Indonesia's North Sumatra province, roughly 200 miles (322km) north of the equator, according to NASA.
