Space · Sunday, 25 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

NASA shuts down its Swift telescope after a failed rescue; it falls back to Earth in November, 22 years after launch

NASA has switched off Swift, a 22-year-old telescope for sudden flashes in the sky, after a commercial craft failed to lift its sinking orbit. The US Space Force moved six launches off ULA's late Vulcan rocket to SpaceX, and China sent up seven Yaogan satellites in one day.

22 years

how long Swift had been in space when NASA shut it down

it is expected to fall into the atmosphere in November [1]

Swift instruments whose readings a study published on 23 October still used

the study looked again at a gamma-ray burst from April 2016 [2]

The lead story — what happened

NASA has shut down Swift, a space telescope whose orbit was decaying, which means it was slowly sinking towards Earth, SpaceNews reported on 24 October. [1]
Swift, full name the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, is expected to fall back into the atmosphere in November, 22 years after it launched. [1]
NASA switched it off after a commercial spacecraft tried to push Swift into a higher orbit and failed. [1]
Swift's readings are used to study gamma-ray bursts, flashes that are among the most powerful events in the universe. [2]
A study published in Nature Astronomy on 23 October used readings from three of Swift's instruments to look again at a burst from April 2016. [2]

Who is involved

NASA

the US space agency; it ran Swift and decided to shut it down
Swift

the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a NASA space telescope for sudden flashes; its orbit has been sinking

How it unfolded

2004 Swift launches, 22 years before its expected fall [1]
Apr 2016 GRB 160425A, a burst in two parts, is seen [2]
23 Oct a study of that burst is published, using Swift's data [2]
24 Oct SpaceNews reports NASA has shut Swift down [1]
November Swift is expected to fall into the atmosphere [1]

Where this points

The next marker is Swift's fall into the atmosphere, which SpaceNews says is expected in November. [1]

Signals on this beat

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing, and the arrow is where it is heading.

Old spacecraft reaching the end Building↑

NASA shut down Swift after 22 years, once a rescue craft failed to lift it. [1] NASA formally ended its OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission on 30 September, though the craft flies on to the asteroid Apophis. [9]

Military satellites needing rides High↑

The US Space Force moved six launches from Vulcan, a delayed US rocket, to SpaceX. [3] China put seven Yaogan satellites into orbit on one day, 23 October. [4]

Telescopes watching things change Building↑

The Webb telescope caught a far supernova four to ten days after it blew up, by looking at one patch of sky again and again. [7] Over 11 hours Webb also watched water clouds shift on WISE 0855, a failed star. [5] A 2016 burst in Swift's records came in two parts that look like two different kinds. [2]

The rest of the day

10 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Six military launches move to SpaceX

The US Space Force has moved six military launches from Vulcan, the rocket of United Launch Alliance (ULA), to SpaceX rockets, SpaceNews reported on 24 October. [3] They are three launches of GPS satellites, one for the Space Development Agency, a Space Force office, and two missions that need extra push to reach high orbits. [3] Among them, a new missile-warning satellite and the payloads for an experimental mission to watch the space between Earth and the Moon now fly on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. [3] SpaceNews says the reshuffle was prompted by Vulcan's delays. [3]
- GPS satellites3 · 50%
- Space Development Agency1 · 17%
- Missions to high orbits2 · 33%
The six launches the US Space Force moved from ULA's Vulcan to SpaceX.
Why it matters — In return, ULA will get later missions that had been booked on SpaceX rockets. [3] So SpaceX flies more US military satellites now, and ULA keeps work for when Vulcan is flying again.
03
China sends up seven spy satellites in a day

China made two launches on Friday 23 October, SpaceNews reports. [4] The first carried Yaogan-50, which SpaceNews calls a spy satellite, into a strongly retrograde orbit, one that runs against the direction Earth spins. [4] A Long March 4B rocket then lifted off from Jiuquan, a launch site in northwest China, with six more Yaogan satellites in two groups of three. [4] A retrograde orbit costs a rocket extra fuel, because it cannot borrow the speed of Earth's spin.

Why it matters — That is seven Yaogan satellites in orbit in one day. [4] Rockets rarely fly this way because of the fuel cost, and the readable part of the SpaceNews report does not say what Yaogan-50's path is for. [4]
04
NASA changes how it picks science missions

NASA has announced an overhaul of how it asks for and chooses ideas for science missions, The Planetary Society reported on 23 October. [8] NASA says the aim is to choose missions and start building them faster. [8] Its leaders will explain the changes and take questions at an online NASA Science Town Hall on Monday 26 October, the first in two years. [8] It comes as NASA skips its 2026 round of ROSES, a programme that usually pays for hundreds of millions of dollars of research. [8]

Why it matters — Scientists at US universities and research institutes compete for these missions and grants. [8] The town hall on 26 October is the first chance for them to hear how the new rules work.
05
NASA closes the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission

NASA formally ended OSIRIS-REx on 30 September, Space.com reported on 20 October. [9] It was the first US mission to collect a piece of an asteroid and bring it to Earth. [9] It scooped rock from Bennu, an asteroid about 490 metres wide, and its capsule landed in the Utah desert on 24 September 2023 with 121.6 grams, more than twice its target. [9] More than 200 research papers have come from the sample, which holds amino acids and sugars. [9]

Why it matters — The spacecraft still has fuel, so it has been renamed OSIRIS-APEX and is flying to Apophis, another asteroid, due in 2029. [9] Most of the Bennu sample is being kept for future scientists, and lead scientist Dante Lauretta says it will be studied with instruments not yet built. [9]
06
A gamma-ray burst that looks like two kinds

Gamma-ray bursts are among the most powerful flashes in the universe, and astronomers sort them into two kinds. [2] Long ones, over two seconds, usually come from a giant star collapsing. [2] Short ones, under two seconds, come from two small, dense stars merging. [2] A study in Nature Astronomy on 23 October describes GRB 160425A, a burst that came in two parts four minutes apart. [2] Nearly every standard test puts the short first part with mergers and the long second part with collapses. [2]

under 2 sFirst part: short
4 minGap
over 2 sSecond part: long
GRB 160425A came in two parts four minutes apart: a short one like a merger, then a long one like a collapse.

Why it matters — One event carrying signs of both causes does not fit the way bursts are sorted now. [2] The authors, working from Swift's readings and those of NASA's Fermi telescope, say the sorting may need rethinking. [2]
07
One of the farthest supernovas seen appearing

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted AT 2026abck, an exploding star whose light left it about 1.15 billion years after the Big Bang, Live Science reported on 20 October. [7] It was not there when Webb looked on 28 May, and it was there on 7 August. [7] The team thinks it saw the blast four to ten days after it began. [7] At its peak it shone about 8 billion times brighter than the Sun, says co-author Xiaohui Fan. [7] The paper was posted online on 29 September and has not yet been checked by other scientists. [7]

71 daysTime on Earth
about 12 daysTime at the star
Between Webb's two looks, 71 days passed on Earth but only about 12 at the exploding star, because the stretching universe slowed the light down.

Why it matters — The universe has stretched since that light set out, so the blast plays out about six times slower for us: 71 days on Earth were about 12 at the star. [7] Most supernovas this far away are found with a galaxy cluster magnifying them, and this one was not. [7]
08
Water clouds seen changing on a failed star

A team led by Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona watched WISE 0855, the coldest known brown dwarf, for 11 hours with the Webb telescope. [5] A brown dwarf is a failed star: too heavy to be a planet, too light to burn like the Sun. [5] WISE 0855 is 7.2 light years away and about -8C at the top of its air. [5] In 44 snapshots, light from carbon monoxide swung by 10% while light from water barely changed. [5] One pattern explains 60.5% of the change, and a second, from deeper down, 4.7%. [5]

Why it matters — Computer models fit the readings far better with patchy water-ice clouds near the top of its air. [5] The University of Arizona calls it the first sighting of changing water clouds outside our solar system, and the team wants about 20 more hours to learn how fast it spins. [5]
09
A black hole's disk that shades itself

Astronomers followed a black hole pulling gas off a nearby star as an outburst from it faded, in a study in Nature Astronomy on 22 October. [6] At the peak the system shone at about a fifth of the brightest a black hole can glow before its own light starts pushing gas away. [6] Then its light looked cool, with strong signs of hydrogen and helium. [6] As it dimmed, the light switched to hot and almost featureless. [6]

Why it matters — The team says a puffed-up inner disk of gas had been shading the outer disk from the black hole's strongest light, and similar systems suggest it may be common. [6] If so, it changes how astronomers work out how fast black holes spin. [6]
10
Algol's wink and the Moon's bright streaks

Algol, a star in the constellation Perseus nicknamed the Demon Star, dims every 2.867 days, Space.com notes in a Halloween sky guide. [10] It is really two stars, and the dimming comes when one passes in front of the other. [10] At its faintest Algol is 3.3 times dimmer than usual, and each dip lasts about 10 hours. [10] Around Halloween it dims on 29 October and on 1 November. [10]

Why it matters — Around the full Moon on 26 October, bright streaks also show around the craters Tycho, Copernicus and Kepler. [10] They are rock flung out by the impacts that made those young craters, and both sights need no telescope. [10]
11
Artemis III rocket's leak test slips by months

A fuelling test for the rocket that will carry Artemis III, NASA's next crewed flight, is now planned several months from now, NASASpaceflight reported on 24 October. [11] It had once been expected around this time. [11] The test checks redesigned fuel connections at the base of the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's Moon rocket, where hydrogen leaked before both earlier Artemis flights. [11] Its orange core stage is due to go between the two side boosters next week. [11]

Why it matters — For the test, a short stack with no upper stage and no Orion capsule will roll to the launch pad and be filled with fuel. [11] NASA still aims to fly Artemis III no earlier than summer 2027. [11]

02 Lesson why it matters

How the timing of a change can split one far object into its parts

A far object is one dot, but its parts brighten, dim and change colour at different times, so watching the dot change pulls the parts apart.

The twist

A sharper picture is not the only way to see inside a far object. Watching when and how its light changes can split it into its parts, even when the object stays a single dot.

The picture

Overall dimming and brightening60.5%

Gases from deeper down4.7%

Over 11 hours WISE 0855's light changed in two separate patterns. The bars show how much of the change each explains; the smaller one probably comes from deeper inside.

How it works

A far object reaches us as one dot, too small to see its parts
Its different parts give off light in different ways, at different depths
When something changes, each part changes at its own time and in its own colours
Watching the dot again and again records those changes one by one
So two signals that rise and fall at different times are traced to two different parts

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

The burst that looks like two kinds

Its light came in two parts four minutes apart, and the length and colour of each part matched a different known cause.
Water clouds on the failed star

Carbon monoxide's light swung by 10% over 11 hours while water's barely moved, so the team placed them at different depths.
The black hole's disk that shades itself

As the outburst faded, its light switched from cool to hot, which showed a raised inner disk had been shading the outer part.
Algol's wink

It dims by the same amount every 2.867 days, and that steady timing shows it is two stars, one passing in front of the other.

Where you've seen this

A heart trace in hospital

each bump in one beat comes from a different part of the heart, told apart by when it arrives

Earthquake readings

two kinds of shaking reach a station at different times, and the gap tells how far away the quake was

Listening to a band in the dark

you pick out each instrument by when it starts and stops, without seeing any of them

The catch

It only works when the parts really change at different times. If everything inside the dot brightens and dims together, its light cannot tell the parts apart.

And the whole of it

The astronomers behind these findings never saw the black hole, the failed star or the burst, only light that reached them years later. Most of what any of us knows about far-off things, from a storm out at sea to a relative's heart, comes from changes that someone kept watching for.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Two US space programmes changed course this week because a company's machine failed or ran late. NASA shut down Swift after a commercial rescue craft failed to lift it, and the US Space Force moved six launches from ULA's delayed Vulcan rocket to SpaceX. [1][3]

Who gains

SpaceX — It gets six more US military launches, two of them on its Falcon Heavy, because Vulcan is late. [3]
United Launch Alliance (ULA) — In the swap it receives later missions that had been booked on SpaceX rockets, so it keeps work for when Vulcan flies. [3]
China's Yaogan programme — Seven more of its satellites reached orbit on 23 October. [4]
Scientists who study asteroids — Most of OSIRIS-REx's Bennu sample is being kept for future research, and the craft flies on to Apophis. [9]
Astronomers using old data — Swift's readings stay public, and a 23 October study used them to find a two-part gamma-ray burst. [2]

Who pays

Astronomers who relied on Swift — They lose the telescope as NASA shuts it down ahead of its fall in November. [1]
United Launch Alliance (ULA) — Six missions it was due to fly on Vulcan now go to SpaceX instead. [3]
US researchers who apply to ROSES — NASA is skipping the 2026 round of a programme that usually pays for hundreds of millions of dollars of research. [8]
The WISE 0855 team — To learn its spin they need about 20 more hours on Webb, a telescope many teams compete to use. [5]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

What, if anything, takes over Swift's job of catching sudden flashes.

The readable part of SpaceNews's report says NASA shut Swift down and expects it to fall in November, and names no replacement. [1]
02

Exactly when and where Swift will fall.

The only date given is November. [1]
03

When Vulcan flies again, and which SpaceX missions ULA gets in return.

SpaceNews says ULA will receive later SpaceX payloads, and its readable text names none of them and gives no date. [3]
04

What Yaogan-50's backwards orbit is for.

SpaceNews calls it a spy satellite, and the readable part of its report does not say what it watches. [4]
05

How one gamma-ray burst came to carry signs of both known causes.

The authors say it does not fit existing ideas of how bursts are made, and offer no settled answer. [2]
06

What kind of explosion AT 2026abck was.

The team calls its reading preliminary, the paper has not been checked by other scientists, and only further looks will show whether it heats up or cools. [7]
07

How fast WISE 0855 spins.

Gas moving across it hid its turning, and the team says it needs about 20 more hours on the Webb telescope. [5]
08

How NASA's new way of choosing science missions will work.

NASA has announced the overhaul and will explain it at a town hall on 26 October. [8]

04 Hope carry this

OSIRIS-REx finished its job at the asteroid Bennu with fuel to spare. Renamed OSIRIS-APEX, it is now flying to a second asteroid, Apophis, and is due there in 2029.

Also true today

OSIRIS-REx brought home 121.6 grams of Bennu, more than twice what it was asked for, and more than 200 research papers have come from that sample so far.
Astronomers say they have watched water clouds change on a world outside our solar system for the first time: WISE 0855, a failed star 7.2 light years away.
Swift is switched off, but its readings are still public, and a study published on 23 October used them to find a gamma-ray burst with two parts four minutes apart.