Follow-up: Swift Observatory Reentry Moved Up to Nov. 4: Space Force Predicts About 3:30 a.m. EST, Within 11 Hours
NASA said on Nov. 2 that the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday, Nov. 4, earlier than the previous estimate of around Nov. 6. As of Monday, the U.S. Space Force predicted that the roughly 3,200-pound spacecraft will re-enter at about 3:30 a.m. EST on Nov. 4 (12:30 a.m. PST), with an uncertainty of plus or minus 11 hours.
NASA said most of the spacecraft will burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, but some components are expected to survive. Because of Swift's low orbital inclination, surviving fragments are limited to between 20.6 degrees south latitude and 20.6 degrees north latitude, with the exact location depending on when it re-enters; the risk of harm to anyone on Earth is about 1 in 2,100, which NASA described as unlikely. NASA and the Space Force will continue to monitor the re-entry and update predictions.
Launched in 2004, Swift was a first-of-its-kind multiwavelength observatory designed to study gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the cosmos, rapidly pointing its three telescopes at short-lived outbursts across gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet and optical light. Originally designed for a two-year prime mission, it operated for more than two decades, observing everything from active galaxies powered by supermassive black holes and stars undergoing X-ray flares to supernova explosions and comets and asteroids in our own solar system.
Source: NASA
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：NASA科学可视化工作室（SVS），公共领域（Swift天文台在轨示意图） / Image: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (public domain)
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- 2026-11-02Follow-up: Swift Observatory Reentry Moved Up to Nov. 4: Space Force Predicts About 3:30 a.m. EST, Within 11 HoursThis story
