NASA Asks Private Companies How to Save the Hubble Space Telescope

Keypoints:

• NASA issued a request for information on October 29
• Companies can pitch a reboost, a servicing mission or a controlled re-entry
• NASA wants any rescue to lift Hubble to at least 600 kilometers and fly by 2032
• Responses are due November 30
• NASA hasn't committed to buying a mission

Hubble is slowly falling, and NASA wants to know if private companies can help. On October 29 the agency put out a request for information asking industry how it might lift the telescope to a higher orbit, service it, or bring it down safely at the end of its life. Responses are due by 3 p.m. Eastern on November 30.

Hubble has no engine, so it loses altitude to atmospheric drag. NASA's own analysis from July puts a 10 percent chance of the telescope falling back to Earth by September 2032 and a 50 percent chance by December 2033, and the public estimate is a 2033 to 2034 window. 

It currently orbits at roughly 470 kilometers, and NASA wants a rescue to push it to at least 600. The last time anyone raised its orbit was the Columbia shuttle visit in 2002, and the final shuttle servicing trip in 2009 did not include a boost.

The request lays out three paths. A company could reboost Hubble, service it to improve what it can do, or fly a mission for a controlled re-entry. Any mission has to avoid harming the telescope and is expected to fly by 2032. The company would provide everything, including the launch vehicle, the servicing spacecraft, operations and a crew if the plan needs one.

It's important to know what this is not. NASA hasn't committed to buying a mission, and it has no money set aside for one. Replies count as information, not bids, and a formal call for proposals could come later but has no date.

We've been here before. Billionaire Jared Isaacman pitched a crewed Dragon rescue back in 2022, and NASA decided against a reboost in 2024. Isaacman now runs NASA, and in June the agency said it would be interested if the cost came down. The commercial track record is still thin. According to KeepTrack, a mission launched in July to boost NASA's Swift observatory has been described as a failure, and Swift is now headed for re-entry.