Almost 22 years after it was launched, NASA's Swift Observatory is now about to fall back to Earth on Wednesday after attempts to push it back into a higher orbit failed. NASA announced that the aging space telescope is anticipated to re-enter Earth's atmosphere at approximately 3:30AM ET (give or take 11 hours), and that it expects most of the spacecraft to burn up, but some components will likely survive re-entry.

The observatory weighs around 3,200 pounds and measures in at 5.6 meters (18.4 feet) high and 5.4 meters (17.7 feet) wide, though much of the latter includes its deployable solar arrays. The risk of surviving components causing …

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Gravity is a cruel mistress, slowly dragging the famed telescope ever closer to its ultimate demise with every day. Hubble is in no immediate danger of burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, but its time will run out in the early to mid 2030s unless its orbit is boosted. So NASA is taking proposals from the private sector to see if anyone can save it.

In a post on NASA's site, Administrator Jared Isaacman said:

"Hubble still has important science ahead of it, and we should be looking at every reasonable opportunity to keep it delivering for as long as possible … If there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset …

Read the full story at The Verge.