Nearly 22 years in space: IDEAS technology aboard NASA’s Swift Observatory

Illustration by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is approaching the end of an extraordinary mission after nearly 22 years in space. For IDEAS, Swift also represents a remarkable technology legacy: detector-readout electronics developed in Oslo in the early 2000s have served at the heart of Swift’s Burst Alert Telescope (BAT).

Launched in 2004, Swift was originally designed for a two-year mission. Its primary task was to detect and rapidly investigate gamma-ray bursts, among the most energetic events in the Universe. Over the following two decades, Swift became an important observatory for transient astronomy, contributing to studies ranging from gamma-ray bursts to gravitational-wave and high-energy neutrino events.

At the heart of Swift’s gamma-ray capability is BAT, whose detector plane contains 32,768 cadmium zinc telluride detector elements. The detector-readout electronics include IDEAS XA1.2 ASIC technology, designed and delivered by IDEAS in Oslo in the early 2000s.

Among the exceptional events observed by Swift was GRB 221009A, nicknamed the BOAT, the “brightest of all time”.

“Swift is a very special mission for IDEAS. Electronics developed by our engineers in Oslo more than two decades ago became part of an instrument that has now operated in space for almost 22 years. It is a remarkable demonstration of the longevity that scientific space technology can achieve,” says Gunnar Mæhlum, CEO of IDEAS.

Swift is now approaching re-entry after a planned attempt to raise its orbit became impossible. Even during its final period in space, the observatory continued making scientific observations. On Oct. 20, Swift reached 171 miles (275 kilometers). At this point, the spacecraft was no longer able to compensate for the effects of the increased drag and entered safe mode. The operations team at Penn State in University Park then sent a command to the spacecraft that effectively ended Swift operations to prepare it for re-entry.

For IDEAS, Swift leaves an important legacy: detector electronics developed in Oslo more than two decades ago that helped one of the world’s leading high-energy astrophysics observatories explore the Universe for almost 22 years.

Read the story about Swift’s final days in https://science.nasa.gov/mission/swift/