NASA's Swift Observatory Reenters Earth After 22 Years, Hubble Rescue Considered

One of NASA's premier space telescopes, the Swift Observatory, plunged to Earth on Wednesday, ending its 22-year investigation of the universe's biggest explosions. The U.S. Space Force confirmed Swift's reentry near Indonesia, marking the conclusion of a mission that vastly exceeded its initial two-year expectation.

Swift's demise came less than three months after a long-shot rescue mission failed. Its orbital decay was accelerated by intense solar activity over the past few years. NASA had contracted a private company, Katalyst Space, for an orbit-boosting effort, but their three-armed robotic craft, launched in July, encountered trouble and subsequently crashed in September.

Launched in 2004, the 1 ½-ton (1.4-metric-ton) Swift Observatory was designed for a two-year study of gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars. Instead, it observed thousands of these phenomena over a mission that lasted 11 times longer than planned, serving as a crucial first responder for other telescopes that could then probe deeper into cosmic events. NASA anticipates that some of its denser pieces may have survived reentry.

In related news, NASA is now gauging industry interest in mounting a rescue mission for another vital observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble's orbit is also being chipped away by solar storms, with recent analyses projecting its crash by the mid-2030s. Launched in 1990, Hubble still holds significant scientific potential.

The space agency is seeking input from private companies on potential strategies to boost Hubble's orbit, upgrade its systems, or guide it to a controlled reentry, or a combination of these options. Any such mission would need to occur by 2032. Nicky Fox, NASA's science mission chief, noted that unlike the urgent situation with Swift, the agency has more time to explore options for saving Hubble. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman affirmed, "Hubble still has important science ahead of it, and we should be looking at every reasonable opportunity to keep it delivering for as long as possible."

What to watch: Developments in NASA's plans for the Hubble Space Telescope's future.

Editor's note: The draft is a complete and accurate summary of the provided text, capturing all technical and administrative details.