SWIFT is an American (NASA), Gamma-ray astrophysics satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 17:16 UT on 2004 November 20. The initial orbital parameters were period 96.6 min, apogee 604 km, perigee 585 km, and inclination 20.6 degrees.
The Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer is a three-telescope space observatory for studying gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and monitoring the afterglow in X-ray, and UV/Visible light at the location of a burst. The burst detection rate is 100 per year, with a sensitivity ~3 times fainter than the BATSE detector aboard the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. The Swift mission was launched with a nominal on-orbit lifetime of two years.
Swift is a NASA Midex (medium-class Explorer) mission. It was the third to be launched, following IMAGE and WMAP.
The 1,470-kg, 1,040-W, 5.5 m x 5.5 m x 5.8 m satellite houses three telescopes and associated detectors and electronics. It enabled detection/location of the Gamma Ray Bursters (GRB) and monitoring the afterglow in X-ray and UV/Visible light at the location. Several prior missions have captured GRB events to estimate that about 200 such bursts occur per year from explosive stellar events through out the universe. As soon as a burst occurs and its location identified by the gamma ray telescope, the instrument platform quickly swings toward the source while the other two telescopes begin monitoring the afterglow. Three data centers, HEASARC (GSFC, USA), UKSSD (UK) and ISAC (Italy) receive data in real time via the TDRSS fleet of satellites.
BAT (Burst Alert Telescope) is a gamma ray telescope, built by GSFC, uses a coded aperture to locate the source. The software to locate the source is provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The CdZnTe detector of 5,200 square-centimeters area, consisting of 32,500 units of 4 mm x 4 mm x 2 mm can pinpoint the location within 1.4 arc-minutes.
XRT (X-Ray Telescope) aims at the source more accurately, and monitors the afterglow in X-rays. It was built jointly by the Penn State University (PSU, USA), the Brera Astronomical Observatory (Italy), and the University of Leicester (UK). It has a detector of area 135 square-centimeters consisting of 600 x 600 pixels, and covers the energy range of 0.2-10 keV. It can locate the afterglow source at an accuracy of four arc-seconds.
UVOT (Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope) monitors the after glow in the UV and Visible light, and locates the source at an accuracy of one arc-second. Its aperture is 30 cm, with an f-number equal to 12.7, and is backed by 2,048 x 2,048 photon-counting CCD pixels. The source location accuracy is better than one arc-second.
Alternate Names
Explorer 84
MIDEX/Swift
Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer
Facts in Brief
Launch Date: 2004-11-20
Launch Vehicle: Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, United States
Mass: 1470.0 kg
Nominal Power: 1040.0 W