AI Generated Image
NASA Aims to Catch a Falling Space Telescope and Push It Back Up
The New York Times • • science
Key Points:
- The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a NASA space telescope launched in 2004, is descending from its original orbit and is now about 210 miles above Earth, where increased atmospheric drag threatens to destroy it.
- Within months, friction from the denser atmosphere is expected to pull Swift into the thicker layers, causing it to break apart unless a rescue mission succeeds.
- NASA plans a groundbreaking robotic spacecraft mission to capture Swift and boost it back to a higher orbit, marking a first-ever attempt at such an orbital rescue.
- The rescue mission is set to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on Tuesday, no earlier than 6:23 a.m. Eastern time.
