NASA Seeks Industry Input on Commercial Servicing Options for Hubble Telescope

NASA issued a Request for Information on Oct. 29 to learn more about industry capabilities for in-space servicing to support the agency's Hubble Space Telescope. The solicitation asks commercial providers to signal interest in missions that could extend the observatory's science lifetime or safely dispose of it when its mission ends. "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. He added that if there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset already on orbit, the agency owes it to American taxpayers and the scientific community to explore them, and that extending Hubble's life would mean more discoveries and more opportunities to expand understanding of the universe. The Request for Information seeks commercial interest in three scenarios: potentially conducting a mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude to extend its science lifetime, servicing the telescope 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 for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. She noted that commercial industry has rapidly evolved in recent years to offer new capabilities for in-space satellite capture and servicing, and said that given the time remaining until Hubble's anticipated re-entry, NASA is eager to explore the breadth of possibilities to boost the telescope to a higher orbit while the agency develops the flagship mission to follow. The Request for Information is available online and will remain open for responses until 3 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 30. Like all spacecraft in low Earth orbit, Hubble's altitude is slowly decreasing over time because of atmospheric drag. The telescope does not have a propulsion system to maintain its own orbit, and analysis predicts it is likely to re-enter the atmosphere in the 2033 to 2034 timeframe. As a result, NASA anticipates that a servicing or disposal mission would need to take place by 2032. Hubble has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make discoveries that shape the fundamental understanding of the universe. The telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations, with support from Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.