Explained in plain English
What is orbital decay?
Orbital decay is when an object in space, like the Swift telescope, gradually loses altitude and spirals closer to Earth. This happens because of tiny amounts of drag from Earth's upper atmosphere, which slow it down. If not corrected, as Link aims to do for Swift, the object will eventually fall out of orbit and burn up.
Stories that explain this
Robot launched to save falling NASA space telescopeQuestions this opens up
Why do things fall? What is atmospheric drag? How do orbits work?This explainer came from a news story
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