NASA seeks private ideas to raise Hubble's orbit before it falls back to Earth
Without a boost, the telescope is expected to reenter the atmosphere in the early-to-mid 2030s, and NASA wants responses by November 30.
NASA has issued a Request for Information asking private companies how they might raise Hubble's orbit, service the observatory, or steer it into a controlled reentry. The telescope has been losing altitude since the shuttle fleet retired, and without intervention it is expected to fall back into the atmosphere in the early-to-mid 2030s. The agency wants details on current and near-term capabilities to capture Hubble and lift it to at least 600 km. Responses are due November 30.
Why it matters
The request shows NASA no longer has a routine way to service Hubble now that the shuttle fleet has retired, so commercial firms are being asked to fill that gap. For the public, the outcome decides whether one of the most productive science instruments of the past decades can be kept in operation or must be brought down in a controlled way. The last orbit raise came in 2002 on a shuttle mission, which underlines how much the options have narrowed since then.
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