In July, NASA launched an ambitious mission in an attempt to extend the life of its rapidly aging Swift observatory. After making major contributions to our understanding of the cosmos for over 20 years, the observatory’s orbit has been rapidly decaying, with the situation now terminal.
By using a spacecraft designed and built by startup Katalyst Space Technologies, the space agency was hoping to nudge the observatory into a higher and more stable orbit. But the rushed mission didn’t achieve its lofty goal, with Katalyst’s spacecraft tumbling out of control months into its daring journey.
Now, Swift is set to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere in a matter of days, as Space.com reports — and nobody knows where its remains will plummet down.
According to an October 23 update by the space agency, the observatory has started “to sink rapidly” thanks to an increase in atmospheric drag triggered by an eleventh-hour return to science observations. By mid-October, its orbit had reached just 171 miles, a point at which it was “no longer able to compensate for the effects of the increased drag.”
Swift is just one of countless objects on a trajectory to careen down through our planet’s atmosphere. Experts expect most of the observatory to burn up, with only remnant pieces surviving the ordeal.
“It is unfortunate that Swift was not ‘reorbited,’ but from a reentry hazard perspective it is a small portion of the stuff coming back in,” LeoLabs senior technical fellow Darren McKnight told Space.com, adding that it’s unlikely to pose a hazard to people back on the ground.
Swift’s deteriorating orbit also puts it only within roughly 21 degrees of the Earth’s equator, which is predominantly open ocean.
Accu Components aerospace parts supplier Accu Components quality manager Dean Sladen told Space.com that the telescope’s “six heavy reaction wheels, the spinning flywheels it used to aim itself, along with tougher telescope parts such as lenses and mirrors” are most likely to survive reentry.
While we won’t have to worry about Swift causing damage on the surface, it’s only one spacecraft’s worth of space junk compared to the litany of debris making it through our planet’s protective bubble. As the Earth’s orbit becomes increasingly cluttered with space junk, the sheer amount of stuff that comes crashing down is increasing year by year, from errant stages of Chinese rockets to long-lost Soviet satellites.
More on Swift: NASA Telescope Careening Down to Earth After Failed Rescue Mission
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