The Swift Mission

Tuesday, 16 November—Excitement is building at the Kennedy Space Center on the day before the launch of a new NASA space observatory named “Swift,” which will be controlled by Penn State from its Mission Operations Center near the University Park campus. After months of delays caused by four devastating hurricanes, it looks like tomorrow fially will be the day the Penn State team will take over control of the satellite after Swift separates from its booster rocket and enters Earth orbit.

Swift earned its name by being built to swing “swiftly” into position, faster than any other space telescope, to capture the rapidly fading “afterglow” signals in X-ray, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths, which linger after the lightning-quick gamma-ray flashes disappear. “The underlying nature and cause of gamma-ray bursts have been among the leading mysteries of astrophysics for the past 30 years,” says John Nousek, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, who is the director of mission operations for the Swift observatory and is at Cape Canaveral to observe the launch.

In addition to staffing the Swift control center, the Penn State team also played a major role in the international teams that built and tested two of Swift's three telescopes. “We are proud to have been selected by NASA to play such an important role in this mission,” Nousek says.