NASA’s Swift Powers On Third Instrument, Restarts Automated Slewing
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has resumed use of its third science instrument and automatically repointing to examine new high-energy flashes in the sky. The post NASA’s Swift Powers On Third Instrument, Restarts Automated Slewing appeared first on NASA Science .
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has reactivated its Burst Alert Telescope and is once again automatically adjusting its other telescopes to study high-energy events in space. This capability return follows a recent change in mission operations to conserve power, which temporarily halted use of the Burst Alert Telescope in April.
The observatory had been using the instrument to detect gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, covering about 16% of the sky at a time. In December 2025, the science operations team began reallocating 25% of the planned observing targets to minimize drag on the spacecraft. By February, they had transitioned entirely to this strategy, suspending Burst Alert Telescope slews.
Automated pointing was restored on September 21 once the gamma-ray instrument began sending data again. Swift now orbits about 200 miles (325 kilometers) above Earth, below which operations become more challenging. The team anticipates the spacecraft will reach this altitude range by early to mid-October. For further updates, readers can visit the Swift blog at https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift.
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