NASA ends Swift mission after its telescopes lose stable viewing

NASA ended the Swift mission after increased atmospheric drag at the satellite’s altitude stopped its telescopes from steadily observing astronomical targets. NASA’s account says Swift made its final observation on Oct. 20. The agency described the mission’s scientific results as its lasting legacy. Swift launched into orbit on Nov.

20, 2004, and began operating the following month. NASA had designed the spacecraft for a two-year primary mission. Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, said it remained productive for more than 10 times that planned duration and called its return on investment “incredible” and lasting.

NASA said Swift observed more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts, which it characterized as the cosmos’s most powerful explosions. The spacecraft also studied more than 1,400 supernova explosions and observed stars being disrupted by black holes. Its work included monitoring active galaxies and conducting an all-sky X-ray survey. The mission also studied asteroids and comets.

NASA said Swift’s data contributed to about 7,000 published scientific papers, placing the spacecraft’s research output at the center of the agency’s account of its legacy. NASA’s description links the mission’s operational end to the effect of atmospheric drag on the telescopes’ ability to maintain observations.

The agency’s stated design and operating figures show that Swift continued well beyond its two-year primary mission, while the final observation preceded NASA’s announcement that the mission had ended. BGNES also reported that the mission ended after 20 years.

NASA’s account gives the launch date and says Swift began work the following month; it does not describe the mission’s end using that same year-count framing. The mission’s record, as NASA presented it, spans gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, black-hole-disrupted stars, galaxies, an X-ray survey, asteroids and comets, and research publications.