For over two decades, the NASA Swift Observatory (now the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory) has served as our vigilant sentry in the dark. It has watched the universe with unblinking eyes, capturing the fleeting, terrifying brilliance of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) —the most powerful explosions known to humanity. These cosmic cataclysms, signaling the birth of black holes or the collision of neutron stars, have unlocked secrets of space-time that were once mere theoretical whispers. But time is a cruel architect. Dragged down by the relentless pull of Earth’s atmosphere, the legendary satellite is losing altitude. It is currently locked on a terminal trajectory, destined for a fiery demise in our atmosphere before the end of this year. Yet, just as the final chapter seemed written, a radical idea has emerged from the labs of visionaries. NASA is not letting its prized asset burn up without a fight. Enter the Swift Boost mission —a daring, unprecedented endeavor to snatch a legacy from the...
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