NASA's Swift Telescope in Uncontrolled Decay, Reentry Expected

Overview

• Swift is in uncontrolled orbital decay and U.S. space officials say it will reenter Earth's atmosphere in the coming weeks.
• The observatory made its final scientific observation on October 20 when it was below about 275 kilometers and atmospheric drag had degraded its ability to hold steady pointing.
• NASA and Katalyst Space abandoned a July capture plan using the LINK robotic vehicle in August, removing the only active option to raise Swift's orbit and making an uncontrolled reentry inevitable.
• Because Swift's orbit is inclined, any surviving fragments could fall along a ground‑track band from central Mexico through much of South America and adjacent ocean areas, with precise impact locations only resolvable during the final orbits.
• After nearly 22 years of service, Swift leaves a public archive of roughly 12 terabytes and 1.5 million images, and NASA is assessing how to replace the mission's fast-response role for transient cosmic events.