Nasa’s Swift satellite telescope falls from orbit in final fiery plunge

South China Morning Post · Reuters · 2026-11-04 23:46 UTC

Swift’s re-entry over Indonesia comes less than three months after a failed rescue mission in space.

Nasa’s Swift satellite ⁠telescope, which spent two decades studying the most powerful known blasts of energy in the cosmos, tumbled out of orbit as expected on Wednesday and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere over Indonesia, the space agency reported.

The fiery demise of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, weighing roughly 1,452kg (3,200 pounds), came less than three months after a ‌rescue spacecraft failed its mission to boost the satellite to higher orbit and extend its life.

The US Space Force confirmed that Swift’s re-entry occurred at 7.39am, as the satellite streaked into the upper atmosphere at about 22 times the speed of sound over Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, roughly 322km (200 miles) north of the equator, according to Nasa.

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