NASA’s Swift Space Telescope Nears Uncontrolled Reentry After Rescue Fails

After almost 22 years in orbit, Swift is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere around Wednesday, with the timing and location still uncertain. A NASA-backed effort to raise the observatory’s orbit was abandoned after its rescue spacecraft developed a control problem.

NASA’s Swift space telescope is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in the coming days, after an attempted rescue failed. The observatory has operated for almost 22 years, and its fall will end a mission that helped astronomers detect powerful cosmic explosions and alert other telescopes to study them.

As of late Monday, Aerospace Corporation estimated that reentry would occur around 10 a.m. Spanish peninsular time on Wednesday, with a margin of uncertainty of 12 hours in either direction. Astronomer Joseph Remis said the timing could be up to four hours earlier, citing a solar storm over the weekend that increased atmospheric drag. The point of reentry cannot be identified precisely until shortly before it happens.

Swift’s orbit passes over a broad belt between about 21 degrees north and south latitude, encompassing parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as large areas of ocean. Most of the roughly 1.5-tonne observatory is expected to burn up in the atmosphere, though experts anticipate that a few small, charred fragments could reach the surface.

The telescope’s descent accelerated because solar activity increased drag in the upper atmosphere. On October 20, after reaching an altitude of about 275 kilometers, Swift entered survival mode because it could no longer compensate for the resistance. Its operators then instructed it to end its mission and prepare for reentry.

NASA and Katalyst Space called off their attempt to save Swift on August 19. The company’s LINK spacecraft had developed an attitude-control problem, preventing it from attempting to capture the telescope and raise its orbit. The spacecraft had launched on July 3 for a mission that aimed to use three robotic arms to attach to Swift and lift it from about 360 kilometers to its original orbit at 600 kilometers.

NASA awarded Katalyst a $30 million contract in September 2025, and the rescue mission was developed in nine months. After LINK’s failure, NASA retained plans to conduct close-approach maneuvers between the two spacecraft to test technologies for future robotic satellite-servicing missions.

Sources: El País Ciencia.

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