NASA Launches Mission to Save Falling Telescope
NASA has launched an unmanned spacecraft to perform a maintenance mission on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. The observatory, which studies gamma-ray bursts, was losing altitude due to solar activity and risked burning up in the atmosphere.
<p>Earlier this week, a three-armed unmanned spacecraft known as LINK <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/07/03/mission-to-boost-nasas-swift-launches-from-marshall-islands/" target="_blank" title="(Opens in a new tab)">launched into orbit</a> to rescue a key NASA space observatory. </p><p>The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, launched in 2004, is a specialized space observatory built for studying gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), beams that are emitted from dying stars, from a low orbit. Gamma rays are thought to give important clues about the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/universe/gamma-ray-bursts-harvesting-knowledge-from-the-universes-most-powerful-explosions/" target="_blank" title="(Opens in a new tab)">early history of the universe</a>.</p><p>The observatory had been sinking lower and lower into the Earth's orbit in recent years, due to solar activity. This threatened its ability to operate effectively and posed a risk of reentry into Earth's atmosphere, where it would burn up. </p><div class="mb-0 rounded-md bg-gray-100 p-3 md:p-5" id="related-video">
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