NASA Explores Potential Commercial Servicing for Hubble Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope returns to orbit as an improved telescope after its second servicing mission in February 1997.

NASA

NASA issued a Request for Information Oct. 29 to learn more about industry capabilities for in-space servicing to support the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope.

“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,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “If there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset already on orbit, we owe it to the American taxpayer and the scientific community to explore them. Extending Hubble’s life would mean more discoveries, more science, and more opportunities to expand our understanding of the universe.”

The Request for Information seeks commercial interest in: potentially conducting a mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude to extend its science lifetime; servicing Hubble to enhance its capabilities; or performing a safe, controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere or orbital disposal at the end of Hubble’s mission.

“Hubble is a national icon that has fundamentally changed how humanity views our universe for more than 35 years,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Commercial industry has rapidly evolved in recent years to offer new capabilities for in-space satellite capture and servicing. Given the time we have until Hubble’s anticipated re-entry, we are eager to explore the breadth of possibilities to boost Hubble to a higher orbit while we develop the flagship mission to follow.”

The Request for Information is available online and will remain open for responses until 3 p.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 30.

Like all spacecraft in low Earth orbit, Hubble’s altitude is slowly decreasing over time because of atmospheric drag. Hubble does not have a propulsion system to maintain its own orbit, and analysis predicts Hubble is likely to re-enter the atmosphere in the 2033 to 2034 timeframe. As such, NASA anticipates that a mission would need to take place by 2032.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

To learn more about NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/hubble