NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Reboost Possibility
NASA and SpaceX signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement Thursday, Sept. 22, to study the feasibility of a SpaceX and Polaris Program idea to boost the agency's Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit with the Dragon spacecraft, at no cost to the government.
There are no plans for NASA to conduct or fund a servicing mission or compete this opportunity; the study is designed to help the agency understand the commercial possibilities.
SpaceX – in partnership with the Polaris Program – proposed this study to better understand the technical challenges associated with servicing missions. This study is non-exclusive, and other companies may propose similar studies with different rockets or spacecraft as their model.
NASA May Let Billionaire Astronaut and SpaceX Lift Hubble Telescope
During a news conference, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, said SpaceX had approached NASA several months ago with the idea. While he said the agency was willing to consider a proposal, he added that this was still a preliminary exploration. "I want to be absolutely clear," Dr. Zurbuchen said. "We're not making an announcement today that we definitely will go forward with a plan like this."
[...] After the fifth and last repair trip by NASA astronauts in 2009, the space shuttle Atlantis dropped Hubble off at an altitude of about 350 miles. In the 13 years since, the telescope has fallen by about 20 miles.
Hubble is not in immediate danger of falling out of the sky, but as it brushes against wisps of air, its orbit will continue to slowly and inexorably drop. By the end of the decade, the space telescope is likely to have dropped enough that NASA might have to make plans for how to guide its re-entry and destruction so that it would fall harmlessly into the ocean — unless someone could push it back up again.
Also at Teslarati, Ars Technica, and The Verge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30 2022, @09:55PM (2 children)
They should also study the feasibility of a Dragon with two astronauts, EVA gear, and parts to service it. That craft has nowhere near the capacity of a Shuttle, so maybe it's not worth it; but if it just needs a few new circuit boards, maybe?
How much extra volume would you get taking out two seats? Dragon seats 4.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday October 01 2022, @01:13AM (1 child)
I would hope that they will consider the possibility of a comprehensive servicing mission, with or without NASA funding, especially since EVAs are on the menu for this "Polaris Program". I don't think any of the articles mentioned it. However, if they only prolong Hubble's existence in low Earth orbit, there can always be another mission later.
In particular, Hubble could use new reaction wheels.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday October 01 2022, @12:53PM
https://earthsky.org/space/hubble-needs-a-boost-spacex-nasa-polaris-study/ [earthsky.org]
Here's a 1 hour media teleconference, audio only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDpERNu-TIk [youtube.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 01 2022, @12:03AM (1 child)
Astronomers are upset about Elon's light pollution in the skies. He needs some brownie points to be gained from this.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday October 01 2022, @12:25PM