Next-generation gamma ray burst finder to fly on Delta 2
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: April 4, 2001

  Swift
Artist's concept of Swift spacecraft and gamma ray blast. Photo: Sonoma State University
 
Boeing's Delta 2 rocket has been tapped to launch a NASA space observatory in 2003 that will seek out and study gamma ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

The Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer will use the Delta 2 7320-10 version of the venerable launch vehicle that includes two stages, three solid-fueled strap-on motors and a 10-foot diameter payload fairing.

Liftoff of Swift is currently set for September 2003 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA's total launch services budget for the Swift campaign is approximately $50 million dollars.

The launch order for Boeing comes as part of the NASA Launch Services contract that also includes Lockheed Martin Atlas and Athena rockets.

The medium-lift Delta 2 will place Swift into a 600 kilometer-high low-inclination orbit that is optimal for gamma ray missions.

Swift's three-year mission will study around one thousand of the strongest explosions known to scientists. These gamma ray bursts may hold the key to the early history of the Universe, which Swift will investigate by studying the origin of the bursts.

Plans call for the main burst alert telescope to detect the gamma ray burst and then determine the relative position of the explosion. The spacecraft would then re-orient itself directly at the burst for its more sensitive instruments to analyze the lasting remnants of these bursts, called afterglow.

This "swift’" re-orientation is Swift's namesake. The Spectrum Astro-built craft can move up to 50 degrees in less than 50 seconds. After that maneuver, the craft would arrive at a point more accurately than almost any other satellite attempting such a quick attitude change.

Swift will use its multi-wavelength capability to study the afterglow as it moves from the gamma ray to the radio wavelength.

In addition, the mission will attempt to identify different types and classes of gamma ray bursts by detecting more bursts, fainter, bursts, and farther bursts than ever before.