Swift Launches . ... Credit Copyright: NASA Explanation: Where do gamma ray bursts occur? To help find out, NASA launched the Swift satellite on Saturday, as pictured above . What Swift is designed to do better than any previous satellite is to quickly locate these enigmatic explosions in both sky position and distance. Once a gamma ray burst (GRB) is located, Swift itself will rotate to face it head-on and determine its distance directly. ... NASA Official: Jay Norris. ...