The Hubble Space Telescope has been orbiting Earth for 36 years, slowly losing altitude. With no onboard propulsion system to maintain its orbit, the 11-ton observatory descends approximately 8 meters per day due to atmospheric drag. NASA's analysis predicts a re-entry into Earth's atmosphere between 2033 and 2034 — an event that would mark the end of one of the most productive eras in modern astronomy.
Last Thursday, October 29, the space agency issued a Request for Information (RFI) directed at commercial aerospace companies, seeking proposals for three scenarios: raising the telescope to a higher orbit, conducting a servicing mission to enhance its scientific capabilities, or guiding a controlled re-entry for safe disposal.
Three possible paths
The RFI document describes three distinct approaches. The first would be to capture Hubble at its current low Earth orbit (approximately 470 km) and raise it to at least 600 km — which could extend its operational life by an additional 25 years or more, according to analysis reported by Ars Technica. That altitude was last achieved in 2002, when the Space Shuttle Columbia performed a servicing mission and orbit-raising burn.
The second option involves a proper servicing mission, with instrument upgrades to keep Hubble at the frontier of observational science. The third alternative would be to capture the telescope and guide it into a controlled re-entry, ensuring that any debris does not pose a risk to populated areas on the ground.
The deadline for responses is November 30, at 3 PM Eastern Time. But prospective respondents should understand this is a market research phase, not a formal solicitation: NASA has allocated no budget and made no commitment to award any contract.
Isaacman's voice
Jared Isaacman, NASA's current administrator, set the tone of the communication: "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. 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."
Isaacman has a personal history with Hubble. In 2022, when he was still a private entrepreneur and commercial astronaut, he proposed individually funding a crewed mission to the telescope using a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. His plan included reboosting the orbit by at least 50 km and installing new gyroscopes with a robotic service module. The proposal drew widespread media attention, but NASA had already received eight company responses to a similar RFI that year.
In 2024, the agency decided not to proceed with the reboost, citing budget constraints and prioritization of future missions. Now, with orbital decay pressure approaching, the question has returned to the table.
The Swift ghost
To understand the stakes, look at the case of the Swift observatory. In 2024, NASA hired startup Katalyst Space Technologies for $30 million and nine months to capture Swift and lift it to a safer orbit. The result was a failure: the spacecraft's robotic arm failed to reach the telescope before its orbit became irreversible.
Swift concluded its science mission on October 20, and according to the U.S. Space Force, is expected to re-enter the atmosphere within days. Most components will burn up, though dense tungsten parts and fragments of the mirror may survive and reach the ground — a reminder of what happens when no company accepts the challenge.
Hubble, even though it is a much larger and more complex target than Swift, offers a different opportunity. With 36 years of discoveries, it has revolutionized our understanding of the universe: from the accelerating expansion of the cosmos to the detection of the first exoplanets. Its successor, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, is scheduled for the 2040s. Until then, without Hubble, there will be no equivalent observatory in the visible and ultraviolet wavelength range.
The question that remains: has commercial space industry matured enough to take on a project that, for decades, was exclusively the domain of crewed space shuttles? NASA's RFI response is not a contract — it is a market test. What it reveals in the coming months may define whether Hubble still has a future or whether its final mission will be to be remembered as the icon that the commercial space industry could not save.
Sources: NASA Science, Beyond Tomorrow, The Next Web
✓ Independent sources cross-checked and verified before publishing
