NASA's Swift observatory ends 22-year mission to study the most powerful explosions since the Big Bang

NASA has officially concluded the mission of its Swift space telescope following an unsuccessful rescue attempt by a private satellite. The Arizona-based company Katalyst Space Technologies sent its LINK spacecraft to rendezvous with Swift in an effort to boost its orbit and prolong the telescope's operations. However, the mission failed when LINK encountered issues with its propulsion system and reaction wheels, causing it to spin uncontrollably.

Despite this setback, LINK managed to get within 7.5 to 9.3 miles of Swift and captured images of the aging spacecraft. The telescope, which launched in 2004, was designed to operate for two years but continued functioning for over two decades. In that time, Swift played a crucial role in advancing our understanding of the universe, observing more than 2,000 gamma-ray bursts and contributing to about 7,000 scientific papers.

NASA announced in a statement on Friday (Oct. 23) that the telescope's orbit would bring it back to Earth within the next few weeks, where it will reenter the atmosphere and burn up.