The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory re-entered Earth's atmosphere over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia on Wednesday, almost 22 years after launch.
Zoom in: The Space Force confirmed re-entry at 3.4 degrees north latitude and 98.6 degrees east longitude. NASA expected most of the spacecraft to burn up, though some components may have survived.
The backstory: Swift launched in November 2004 on a two-year prime mission to study gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the cosmos, using three telescopes that could swivel onto a flare within seconds.
- Its final tally was more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and 1,400 exploding stars, plus comets, asteroids and star-shredding black holes, per CBS News.
Between the lines: Intense solar activity dragged Swift down faster than usual, so NASA hired Katalyst Space for a rush rescue. Its three-armed robot, Link, launched in July, got within 7 to 9 miles of the telescope, and fell to Earth in September.
- NASA put the risk of harm to anyone on Earth at roughly 1 in 2,100 and said any surviving wreckage would most likely land in the ocean.
What they're saying: "We’ve known this day would come since before Swift was launched. At least in low-Earth orbit, what goes up must come down," said Penn State astronomer John Nousek, who led the control team.
Why it matters: Swift was the first responder that told Hubble, Webb and ground observatories where to look within seconds of a cosmic explosion, and scientists are still working out how to fill that gap.
