Nasa's Swift space telescope has likely crashed into Earth, Nasa yet to confirm

Nasa's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has spent more than two decades studying some of the universe's most powerful explosions, has likely fallen back to Earth on Wednesday, November 4.

The 1,450-kg space telescope has likely ended its mission after atmospheric drag, intensified by recent solar activity, caused it to lose altitude rapidly. Nasa is yet to confirm the observatory's crash. An artist's recreation of the Swift Telescope. (Photo: Nasa)

According to Nasa, the US Space Force had predicted that Swift would re-enter Earth's atmosphere at around 2 pm IST on November 4, although the timing could vary by as much as 11 hours.

Most of the spacecraft was likely to burn up during its descent, but some parts may have survived and reached the ground, as Nasa had expected earlier.

Launched in November 2004, Swift was originally designed for a two-year mission to study gamma-ray bursts, extremely powerful explosions in space. It went on to operate for almost 22 years, observing black holes, exploding stars, comets and other cosmic objects. An artist’s concept of pair of black holes swirling in a cloud of gas, studied by Swift Telescope. (Photo: Nasa)

The problem began when increased solar activity heated and expanded Earth's upper atmosphere, increasing the drag experienced by satellites in low Earth orbit. This slowed Swift down and gradually pulled it closer to Earth.

Without enough power to push itself back into a higher orbit, the observatory continued losing altitude.

By October 20, it had reached approximately 275 km above Earth and could no longer compensate for the increased drag.HOW A MISSION TO SAVE SWIFT FAILED

Nasa had launched an ambitious effort to rescue the observatory by sending a commercial spacecraft called Link, developed by Katalyst Space, to attach itself to Swift and push it into a higher orbit.

Link launched in July 2026, but the spacecraft encountered intermittent communication losses and problems controlling its orientation after reaching space. An artist's concept of the Link spacecraft docking with Swift Observatory. (Photo: Nasa)

Following troubleshooting, Nasa and Katalyst abandoned the planned docking and orbit-boost attempt.

“From the beginning, this was a high-risk, high-reward mission,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Nasa's Astrophysics Division director.

Although the rescue attempt did not succeed, it provided valuable data and insights for future satellite-servicing missions.

The risk of anyone being harmed during a crash was considered very low, estimated at approximately one in 2,100. Nasa is yet to confirm whether the event matched the estimates.

Now, after decades of service and unravelling the mysteries of the worlds far away, Swift could be back home.- Ends