One of the main space telescopes in the POT plummeted to Earth on Wednesday, ending its 22-year investigation into the biggest explosions in the universe.
The end of the Swift Observatory occurred less than three months after an urgent rescue mission failed.
The Space Force USA confirmed Swift’s re-entry near Indonesia after continuing its orbit in descent, a result of the intense solar activity of recent years.
NASA hired a private company to try to raise the telescope, but Katalyst Space’s robotic spacecraft ran into problems after its launch in July and ended up crashing in September.
It is not known how much of the 1½-ton spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere. NASA estimates that some of the denser pieces will survive.
Swift took off in 2004 on what was to be a two-year study of gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars. It observed thousands of them over the course of a mission that lasted 11 times longer than planned, and acted as a collaborator for other telescopes that could explore deeper.
NASA is evaluating interest in undertaking a rescue mission for another observatory whose orbit is being eroded by solar storms: the Hubble Space Telescope. Launched in 1990, Hubble will likely end up crashing around the mid-2030s, according to recent analysis.
The space agency is seeking input from private companies on how to raise Hubble’s orbit, modernize its systems or guide it toward controlled reentry — or all three. Any such mission would have to happen by 2032.
Unlike the rushed work on Swift, the space agency has more time to explore options to save Hubble, said Nicky Fox, NASA’s science mission chief.
“Hubble still has a lot of science to do”NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. ”and we should be looking at every reasonable opportunity to keep it performing for as long as possible”.