NASA Space Telescope Falls Back to Earth After 22 Years Studying Cosmic Explosions

One of NASA's most important space telescopes has fallen back to Earth, ending a 22-year mission to study some of the biggest explosions in the universe. The Swift Observatory re-entered Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday after years of slowly sinking closer to our planet. The U.S. Space Force tracked Swift's path and confirmed it came down near the country of Indonesia. It was a dramatic end for a telescope that worked far longer than scientists ever planned.

Swift was launched into space in 2004. At the time, NASA only expected it to work for about two years, studying powerful blasts of energy called gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. Instead, the telescope kept working for 22 years — that's 11 times longer than the original plan. During that time, Swift spotted thousands of cosmic explosions and acted as an early-warning system, alerting other telescopes so they could take a closer look.

Before Swift fell, NASA tried hard to save it. The agency hired a private company called Katalyst Space to build a special robotic spacecraft that could push Swift into a higher, safer orbit. The robotic craft had three arms and launched in July, but it ran into serious problems shortly after launch. By September, the rescue craft itself had crashed back to Earth, and the mission to save Swift was over.

Scientists are not sure exactly how much of Swift survived the fall through Earth's atmosphere. The spacecraft weighed about one and a half tons. NASA expected that most of it burned up from the extreme heat of re-entry, but believed some of the thicker, denser pieces may have made it to the ground or ocean below.

Now, NASA is turning its attention to another famous telescope that could face a similar fate: the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble has been in orbit since 1990, but powerful solar storms have been slowly dragging it closer to Earth. Scientists believe Hubble could come crashing down by the mid-2030s if nothing is done. Any plan to save it would need to happen before 2032.

NASA is asking private companies for ideas on how to help Hubble. The agency wants to know if companies could boost Hubble's orbit, improve its equipment, or guide it safely back to Earth in a controlled way — or even do all three. NASA's science chief, Nicky Fox, pointed out that unlike the rushed effort to save Swift, there is still time to come up with a smart plan for Hubble. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency should explore every reasonable chance to keep Hubble working as long as possible.