Gamma-ray bursts are so powerful, in fact, that scientists estimate that some of the most distant ones might have gone off when the Universe was only 5 per cent of the age it is today.Their immense violence begs the question of what would happen if one exploded within our own galaxy. This blast wave heats the surrounding gas to ultra-high temperatures and, perhaps, triggers new star formation. As Nasa explains: “The powerful blast wave ploughs the interstellar medium, with some of its debris accelerated to near light speed. In both cases, scientists suspect that the burst marks the birth of a black hole – a highly dense region of such intense gravity that not even light can escape.

“We believe that gamma-ray bursts may mark the birth of a black hole. Swift is designed to answer such questions,” Professor Mason says.There is mounting evidence that some gamma-ray bursts arise from the explosion of massive stars. Some theorists also suggest the bursts may emanate from spectacular mergers or collisions in space, perhaps between two neutron stars or two black holes. They found that in the space of a few seconds the explosive energy emitted largely in the form of gamma radiation is equivalent to the energy released by the Sun during its entire lifetime of some 10 billion years. Whatever is causing these bursts, it’s a good job that they are billions of light-years away – too far to seriously damage life on Earth.The £138m satellite due to be launched this month is designed to solve the riddle of what causes a gamma-ray burst.

What measurements that have been made suggest that there may be two types of bursts, one of exceptionally short duration of no more than a fraction of a second, and another version that lingers for maybe a few seconds. For an orbiting observatory, the Earth gets in the way at different times for each spacecraft, while on ground-based telescopes you have the added complication of cloud and bad weather.”Nasa describes gamma-ray bursts as “the most puzzling and intriguing astronomical phenomena found in modern times”, yet there are several theories as to what is behind them. “Until now it has proved very difficult to observe several different wavelengths at once. “Swift is the first spacecraft specifically designed to study the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts across the electromagnetic spectrum, thereby getting the big picture,” he says. “Swift is unique because it brings together space scientists and ground-based astronomers in a way that has never been achieved before – working together, they are poised to reveal the origins and complexity of the most violent phenomena in the Universe,” Professor Halliday says.Professor Keith Mason, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London, and Britain’s lead investigator on Swift’s optical-UV telescope, explains the satellite significance. Named after the bird that catches its food in flight, the Swift space laboratory is a joint project between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), Britain and Italy It has three instruments on board. One is for detecting the rough location of a gamma-ray burst within seconds of it going off, and two more that can be quickly swivelled in that direction to study the burst’s “afterglow” of radiation, which includes radiation in the form of X-rays, ultraviolet and visible light.Swift is also designed to transmit information within seconds to ground-based telescopes on Earth which can also be corralled in the hunt for a gamma-ray afterglow, says Professor Ian Halliday, chief executive of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, which has contributed £3.81m to the cost of the project.