The
, a 1.5-ton NASA telescope that was launched more than two decades ago, has crashed back to Earth after an effort to rescue the wayward instrument failed earlier this year.
asserted
effort → launch → instrument
The roughly 3,200-pound observatory reentered Earth's atmosphere at 7:39 a.m. ET over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, NASA said.
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NASA → reentere → Indonesia
Much of it burned up upon reentry.
asserted
Much → burn → reentry
Some components are expected to survive reentry and may be found sprawled across hemispheres, NASA said.
uncertain
NASA → expect → hemispheres
The observatory's reentry path was tracked by NASA and the U.S. Space Force.
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path → track → NASA
NASA predicted its reentry time at around 3:30 a.m. EST on Nov. 4, with an 11-hour window of uncertainty on either side.
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NASA → predict → side
NASA had previously said that the "risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is unlikely," placing the odds at about 1 in 2,100.
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harm → say → 2,100
The Swift Observatory was sent into low-Earth orbit on
— almost exactly 22 years ago.
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Observatory → send → orbit
The telescope's mission was to search for , including gamma-ray bursts and supernovas.
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mission → search → bursts
The telescope was named for its ability to swerve rapidly toward such events.
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telescope → name → events
The telescope was initially designed to run a two-year mission, but continued its operations until last month.
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telescope → design → month
Solar activity eventually dragged the telescope back down to Earth.
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activity → drag → Earth
Katalyst Space was contracted by NASA to dispatched a three-armed robot named Link to push the telescope back into place, but the robot ran into trouble shortly after launching.
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robot → contract → trouble
It was not able to get within seven miles of the telescope.
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It → get → telescope
The robot fell back to Earth in September.
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robot → fall → September
In August, it was decided that the Swift observatory would be back to Earth.
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observatory → decide → Earth
The companyThe observatory continued to return observations until late October, when NASA determined the telescope was too low to remain steady.
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telescope → continue → October
Its systems were shut down at that time.
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systems → shut → time
In addition to observing more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars, the Swift telescope was a "first responder" for the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, NASA said.
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NASA → observe → telescopes
Swift would issue alerts to those and other facilities, which would then more deeply investigate those observations.
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which → issue → observations
"Swift has broadened our understanding of a wide variety of cosmic objects and events, from active galaxies powered by supermassive black holes and stars undergoing X-ray flares, to supernova explosions and comets and asteroids in our own solar system," NASA said in a blog post.
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NASA → broaden → post
Scientists are still trying to figure out how to replace the work done by the Swift observatory.
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Scientists → try → observatory
"We've known this day would come since before Swift was launched.
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Swift → know → ?
At least in low-Earth orbit, what goes up must come down.
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goes → go → orbit
And that end is catastrophic," said Pennsylvania State University's John Nousek, an astronomer who led the control team, on Monday.
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who → say → Monday
"Our fervent hope is that the lessons learned by the successes of Swift can be applied to new generations of space missions to accelerate our discoveries about the universe," Nousek added.
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Nousek → learn → universe
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