A new plan to save the Hubble Telescope

I was under the impression that the last mission to service the Hubble space telescope in 2009 was going to be the last one and that eventually its orbit would decay and it would die. With all the recent attention focused on the JWST, I was surprised to read this article at Gizmodo

Apparently the Hubble is still alive and well but its long term future has some problems.

It is estimated that due to atmospheric drag and gravity, Hubble would enter the earth’s atmosphere sometime mid-to-late 2030s. Since launching 33 years ago the telescope’s orbital height has fallen by roughly 18 miles (30 kilometers).

NASA sent out feelers late last year asking the commercial sector for ways to boost Hubble’s orbit. SpaceX has expressed interest and now a second a second group, the California-based Momentus Space and Tokyo-based Astroscale is pitching a proposal.

“Even at 33, Hubble is fully capable of continuing its mission; where it is aging is in its orbital stability,” John Rood, Momentus chief executive officer, said in a company statement. “I am thrilled that we collaborated to offer NASA a very cost-effective way to continue to operate this billion-dollar scientific investment by leveraging new robotic in-space servicing technology.”

I also thought I remembered that getting to the Hubble was hard for the space shuttle because it’s orbit was already too high but I could be wrong on that? From the sound of things, the mission to raise the Hubble’s orbit could also include servicing batteries and electronics as needed even further extending its life.

As someone that has always been kind of fascinated with space stuff from the early 1960s, I think this is cool.

a reply to: AdifferentOpinion

I think that even if the effort were to be considered unnecessary from a continuing mission angle, the exercise of doing this might provide valuable experience for when the need is there. I noticed that at least one of the respondents offers a plan to lift eh orbit only by a few miles or so... I wonder if that would be 'worth it' in terms of extending the lifespan of the telescope.

Thanks for sharing this, it seems that the 'old' technology always outlives the 'new'.... I wonder why that is?