NASA, SpaceX team up to explore ways of increasing the Hubble telescope's lifespan

The Hubble space telescope will be raised to a higher orbit through private space missions soon. NASA, in its latest announcement, revealed that it has signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to carry out a study and explore the possibilities of reboosting Hubble's altitude.

The agreement follows the proposal of the six-month-long study by SpaceX to determine whether it would be possible to safely rendezvous and dock a spacecraft to the Hubble telescope and move it into a more stable orbit. While NASA underscored that there are no plans for NASA to conduct or fund Hubble’s servicing mission, it added that this study is non-exclusive and invites other commercial companies with their own ideas involving different rockets and spacecraft. 

Notably, the year 2009 was the last when astronauts visited the Hubble telescope to carry out repair and servicing of the telescope which launched back in 1990. The astronauts launched to the telescope under NASA’s Space Shuttle program which ended in 2011. 

Initially, Hubble was installed at an altitude of 547 km but the atmospheric drag experienced by the telescope over the years has resulted in the degradation of its orbit. Experts say that raising the telescope’s orbit could add multiple years to its life. “This study is an exciting example of the innovative approaches NASA is exploring through private-public partnerships,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said in an official statement. “As our fleet grows, we want to explore a wide range of opportunities to support the most robust, superlative science missions possible.”

Since SpaceX will be carrying out the study in partnership with the Polaris Program, chances are Hubble will get a reboost under the same program if the results are positive. The Polaris Program consists of three manned orbital missions which was announced by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman earlier this year. Also consisting of the first crewed Starship launch, the Program is scheduled to take off no earlier than March 2023. 

“SpaceX and the Polaris Program want to expand the boundaries of current technology and explore how commercial partnerships can creatively solve challenging, complex problems,” said Jessica Jensen, vice president of Customer Operations & Integration at SpaceX. “Missions such as servicing Hubble would help us expand space capabilities to ultimately help all of us achieve our goals of becoming a space-faring, multiplanetary civilization.”