NASA wants to "restart Hubble" - to serve and raise the orbit of the telescope

At NASA hatch plans restart of the Hubble space observatory. The telescope’s equipment, which has been in orbit for over 30 years, requires repair and maintenance, and there is also the issue of raising the observatory’s orbit. By 2025, the Hubble orbit will drop to 500 km, and its support will become more difficult. To address these issues, NASA has issued a request for the participation of any willing companies in missions to extend the work of the observatory. Reboot “Hubble” to be.

Image Source: NASA

NASA this summer extended the Hubble mission until 2026. Judging by the submitted application, the agency is ready to continue to support the operation of the telescope, but without maintenance and raising the orbit, this will be impossible. Earlier this year NASA concluded a non-exclusive telescope service study agreement with SpaceX. The Crew Dragon ship can be used for this. At the moment, there is no information on how SpaceX plans to carry out such a mission.

Since the contract with SpaceX is non-exclusive, NASA has submitted an open request for everyone to participate in the Hubble reboot program. A short resume from applicants on solving the problem must be submitted no later than 8 weeks, and a detailed one no later than 24 weeks.

Interestingly, NASA does not intend to pay for the mission to raise the orbit of the telescope. The contract will be concluded on the basis of non-exchange financing. The point is that the best design will be the basis for NASA to service the many other satellites in orbit, from repairs to re-orbits. Having tested the technology for free on the rise of the Hubble orbit, the applicant will have access to NASA contracts for years and even decades to come.