The Swift Observatory, a 1.5-ton NASA telescope that was launched more than two decades ago, has crashed back to Earth after an effort to rescue the wayward instrument failed earlier this year. The roughly 3,200-pound observatory reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 7:39 a.m. ET over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, NASA said. Much of it…
An aging NASA telescope is barely clinging to space after a failed rescue effort left it tottering lower and lower. The space agency said Monday it predicts the Swift Observatory will likely come crashing down on Wednesday. Most of the 1 ½-ton telescope is expected to burn up in the atmosphere. But a handful of…
Japan launched an ambitious $350 million mission to Mars on Monday to study the red planet’s two moons in unprecedented detail, dropping a small rover on the largest — Phobos — before the mothership touches down to robotically collect soil samples for return to Earth. The primary goal of the Martian Moons Exploration mission, or…
The Perseid meteor shower is set to provide a late-summer show in the skies over the United States. The meteor shower, which NASA calls the best of the year, is set to peak on Aug. 12 and 13. “With swift and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long ‘wakes’ of light and color behind them as…
