GCN Circular 43704

Brad Cenko (NASA/GSFC) on behalf of the Swift team:

I’m writing to provide an update about Swift and the associated efforts to boost its orbit prior to atmospheric re-entry.

For the last several months we have attempted to reduce the rate of altitude decay by orienting the Swift spacecraft in a manner to minimize drag over the part of each orbit where the atmospheric density is at a maximum. While this has had a positive impact on orbital altitude (and had only a modest impact on science), increased solar activity and refined altitude predictions in recent weeks both indicate an increasing risk of Swift not maintaining sufficient altitude for the Katalyst capture attempt.

After careful consideration, we are opting to transition Swift full-time to an operations mode where the top priority is to prolong its orbital lifetime to maximize the chances of reboost success. As a result, few (if any) pointed observations with the XRT and UVOT will be feasible. Once it has been brought back fully online from the safe hold on 1/28, BAT will continue to collect science data as per usual (though prompt slews to newly detected GRBs will be disabled). While this is a significant reduction in science capability, we believe the prospect of extended operations at much higher altitude post-reboost justify the risk.

We will re-evaluate Swift’s orbital status regularly throughout the coming weeks and months, and should this posture change for any reason we will notify the community (e.g, on our new blog: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift).

In the mean time, we will hold a community forum on Friday, February 13 at 10:00 AM EST to answer any questions you may have about this change (Teams connection information is below). 

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