The Hubble Space Telescope has spent more than 35 years transforming how we see the universe. Now NASA is asking a simple but urgent question: can anyone help keep it up there?
On October 29, the agency issued a Request for Information asking commercial companies how they might boost Hubble to a higher orbit, upgrade it, or guide it to a safe, controlled end. Responses are due by 3 p.m. EST on Monday, November 30.
Here is what NASA is looking for and why the clock is ticking, based on NASA’s announcement and reporting from Ars Technica.
Why Hubble is running out of time
Like every spacecraft in low Earth orbit, Hubble is slowly being dragged down by the thin outer atmosphere. Unlike many satellites, it has no propulsion system of its own to push back up.
NASA last raised Hubble’s orbit in 2002, when the Space Shuttle Columbia visited for a servicing mission. Ars Technica reports that the telescope has since drifted from about 362 miles (583 km) up to roughly 292 miles (470 km). The final shuttle servicing flight in 2009 did not reboost it, and the shuttle fleet retired two years later.
NASA’s analysis predicts Hubble is likely to reenter the atmosphere in the 2033 to 2034 timeframe, though forecasts can shift with solar activity. That is why the agency expects any mission would need to happen by 2032.
What NASA is asking for
The Request for Information seeks commercial interest in three possibilities:
- A mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude to extend its science life.
- Servicing Hubble to enhance its capabilities.
- Performing a safe, controlled reentry or orbital disposal at the end of its mission.
According to Ars Technica, NASA wants information on companies’ ability to capture Hubble and raise it to at least 373 miles (600 km). A reboost to that height would likely keep the telescope in orbit for at least 25 more years. The RFI states that any boost or servicing mission “must not harm the HST,” and a contractor would supply the launch vehicle, servicing spacecraft and mission operations.
What NASA’s leaders said
“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.”
Nicky Fox, who leads NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said commercial industry “has rapidly evolved in recent years to offer new capabilities for in-space satellite capture and servicing.”
We’ve been here before
This is not the first time NASA has floated the idea. Ars Technica notes that in 2022, Isaacman, then a private commercial astronaut, proposed a crewed servicing mission using SpaceX’s Dragon, and NASA issued a similar RFI that drew eight responses. In 2024, the agency decided not to pursue a reboost.
What has changed is the servicing industry. Ars Technica points to Northrop Grumman’s advanced robotic servicing satellite launched this year with DARPA, and to startups such as Astroscale and Starfish Space that hold servicing and refueling demo contracts. It also recalls NASA’s recent attempt to rescue the smaller Swift telescope, where a startup built and launched a rescue spacecraft within nine months and got within about 6 miles of its target before the approach was halted.
Isaacman wrote on X that he expects the new RFI to “draw interest from robotics companies.” A crewed mission looks less likely now, as SpaceX aims to retire Crew Dragon by 2030.
No money committed yet
An RFI is not a contract. NASA has not committed to buying a rescue mission, and Ars Technica reports that the agency currently has no funding allocated for one. The responses will help NASA understand who is interested, what it might cost and whether a mission is realistic before Hubble’s window closes.
Why Hubble still matters
Newer observatories such as Webb and the upcoming Roman telescope look mainly in infrared light. Hubble is tuned to visible and ultraviolet light, and astronomers may not get a true successor in those wavelengths until NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory in the 2040s.
Looking up
For now, Hubble keeps working, one orbit at a time. If industry answers NASA’s call with credible, affordable plans, one of the most famous scientific instruments ever built could get a second life in the 2030s.
Image: Hubble Space Telescope prior to STS-109 servicing by NASA via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark 1.0
