Swift Links

For links to Swift videos, photos, public outreach, and education, click here.

About the Swift Mission Operations Center

The Swift Mission Operations Center (MOC), located at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, is responsible for operating and controlling the satellite and for receiving and distributing data from Swift about gamma-ray bursts. MOC scientists also are responsible for planning Swift observations, for commanding and uploading software to the satellite, for verifying the health and safety of the satellite and its instruments, and for quickly reviewing the gamma-ray-burst data as it arrives.

The MOC receives almost all of Swift's data—in the range of six thousand million bytes per day—via a transmission station in Kenya maintained by the Italian Space Agency. A small portion of Swift's data—about fifty thousand bytes per day—is delivered via TDRSS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System) simultaneously to the MOC at Penn State and to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, which shares the data with astronomers worldwide through Swift's gamma-ray-burst coordinates network (GCN).

The Penn State team at the MOC also built and tested Swift's X-ray and UV/optical telescopes, along with the Swift partners at the University of Leicester and Mullard Space Science Laboratory in England and the Brera Observatory in Italy.

Penn State Press Releases About Swift

Superbright Explosion is Most Distant Object Ever Visible to the Naked Eye (20 March 2008)

Intergalactic "Shot in the Dark" Shocks Astronomers (18 December 2007)

Possible Closest Neutron Star to Earth Found (20 August 2007)

Gamma-Ray Bursts Active Longer than Previously Thought (23 May 2007)

Gamma-Ray Birth Cries Suggest Massive Magnetic Engines (8 March 2007)

Top High-Energy Astronomy Prize Awarded (16 January 2007)

Astronomers Discover New Kind of Black-Hole Explosion (20 December 2006)

Twin Star Explosions Fascinate Astronomers (20 November 2006)

X-rays Fly as Cracking Comet Streaks Across the Sky (15 May 2006)

Scientists Piece Together the Most Distant Cosmic Explosion (7 March 2006)

Swift Satellite Detects Unusual Cosmic Explosion (24 February 2006)

Cosmic Explosion Could Be Black Hole Swallowing Neutron Star (14 December 2005)

Swift Satellite Hailed as "Best of What's New" in Popular Science (8 November 2005)

Public Invited to Swift Satellite “Birthday Bash” (25 October 2005)

Short Flash from Enormous Explosion Solves Cosmic Mystery (5 October 2005)

NASA Satellite, Controlled by Penn State, Detects Most Distant Explosion (12 September 2005)

NASA'S Swift Satellite Finds Newborn Black Holes (18 August 2005)

Faculty Hires Build Penn State's Reputation in Space Science, Leading to $35-million Share of Swift Project (2 August 2005)

Scientists Use X-rays to Measure How Deep "Deep Impact" Was (8 July 2005)

NASA Swift Satellite Offers a Different View of the Great Comet Collision (4 July 2005)

Scientists Watch Black Hole Born in Split-Second Light Flash (11 May 2005)

Swift Mission Nabs Its First Distance Measurement to Star Explosion (5 April 2005)

Swift Sees Pinwheel Galaxy, Satellite Fully Operational (1 February 2005)

Swift Mission Images the Birth of a Black Hole (21 January 2005)

Swift X-ray Telescope Sees Its First Light and Captures Its First Gamma-Ray-Burst Afterglow (5 January 2005)

Swift Launched Successfully Saturday, 20 November 2004 (20 November 2004)

View Webcast and Live Broadcast of Launch of NASA/Penn State Space Observatory (12 November 2004)

Swift Prelaunch Webcasts and Launch Coverage Set for 15-17 November 2004 (12 November 2004)

NASA Space Observatory Prepares for Launch; Penn State Prepares to Control Its Operation (29 July 2004)

Penn State Sophomore Helping to Develop Software for Swift Satellite (15 March 2004)

Gamma-Ray-Burst Catcher Readies for Launch (30 June 2003)

Penn State Research Team Wins Satellite Competition (15 October 1999)

Penn State Astronomers Selected as Finalists to Build $135 Million NASA Satellite (26 January 1999)

Penn State Astronomers Selected as Finalists to Build $135 Million NASA Satellite (23 March 1999)

 

Click Here for NASA Press Releases