Science
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
4 days agoInside NASA's audacious plan to save a doomed space telescope
NASA's Swift Observatory faces orbital decline but aims to extend its mission with a robotic intervention to boost its altitude.
With the government shutdown over, the FAA has lifted its daytime launch curfew. Welcome to Edition 8.20 of the Rocket Report! For the second week in a row, Blue Origin dominated the headlines with news about its New Glenn rocket. After a stunning success November 13 with the launch and landing of the second New Glenn rocket, Jeff Bezos' space company revealed a roadmap this week showing how engineers will supercharge the vehicle with more engines.
Time is running out for the venerable NASA observatory. In September, the agency reckoned there was a 50 percent chance of an uncontrolled reentry by mid-2026, increasing to 90 percent by the end of the year. Although the spacecraft was launched in 2004, it remains operational and could continue to capture data on gamma-ray bursts if boosted to a higher orbit.