Share to ClassroomRescue Fails, NASA Telescope Falls Toward Earth
NASA (the US space agency) said its old Swift space telescope was expected to fall back to Earth on Wednesday, 4 November. The US Space Force said it would probably enter the atmosphere at about 3:30 a.m. US Eastern Time, but the time could change by up to 11 hours. Most of the telescope should burn up, but a few strong metal parts could survive. News reports said these pieces would most likely land in the ocean. NASA said the risk to people was about 1 in 2,100.
Swift went into space in 2004. Its job was to find gamma-ray bursts — huge flashes of energy from far away in space. It was built to work for only two years, but it worked for more than 20. Strong activity on the Sun pulled it down faster than usual. A company called Katalyst Space sent a robot to push it higher, but the robot could not reach it. By late October, Swift was too low, so it was turned off.
Swift found more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars. It also sent quick alerts to other telescopes, such as Hubble and Webb. Scientists are still trying to work out how to replace it. "What goes up must come down," said John Nousek, an astronomer who led the team.
