Follow-Up: Swift Observatory Re-Entry Narrowed to Early Nov. 4: Space Force Predicts 3:30 a.m. EST, Plus or Minus 11 Hours

NASA updated its forecast on November 2: the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is now expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday, November 4. As of Monday, the U.S. Space Force predicted that the roughly 3,200-pound spacecraft will re-enter at approximately 3:30 a.m. EST on November 4, with an uncertainty of 11 hours. GSM previously reported the observatory was expected to re-enter around November 6; the new forecast moves the event earlier and narrows the window considerably.

NASA expects most of the spacecraft to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, but some components are expected to survive. Due to Swift's low inclination, re-entry locations of any surviving fragments are limited to between 20.6 degrees south latitude and 20.6 degrees north latitude, and the risk of harm to anyone on Earth is approximately 1 in 2,100. NASA and the Space Force will continue to monitor the re-entry and update predictions.

Launched in 2004 with a two-year prime mission, Swift operated for nearly 22 years, using three telescopes to study gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the cosmos, detecting more than 2,000 of them and sending rapid alerts to observatories worldwide.

(Source: NASA)

Source: NASA

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：NASA的Neil Gehrels Swift天文台示意图。该台以三台望远镜观测宇宙中最强的爆炸伽马射线暴。NASA科学可视化工作室绘制，公共领域，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Rendering of NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. By NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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