NASA has teamed up with SpaceX and the Polaris Program to explore the potential of using a Dragon spacecraft to push the Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit, thus prolonging its life.
Since launching in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has become a scientific powerhouse. To date, it has captured over 1.5 million observations of the cosmos and fuelled the publication of over 19,000 scientific papers.
Sadly, the legendary telescope can’t simply go on observing the heavens forever. Hubble is starting to show its age. Over the past three decades, the stalwart observatory has suffered a host of hardware and software issues, the most serious of which were remedied in daring shuttle-era servicing missions.
However, despite these hardships, it remains an impressive tool for astronomers attempting to unravel the mysteries of the universe.
“After more than 32 years, Hubble remains incredibly productive scientifically, with unique capabilities for exploring the unknowns of the universe,” said Hubble Telescope project manager Patrick Crouse, during a joint NASA, SpaceX press conference. “Using these unique capabilities, working in tandem with the James Webb Space Telescope’s, enables greater productivity than either of the missions would have achieved working on their own.”
One of the major factors limiting Hubble’s lifespan is its slowly decaying orbit. Upon launching in 1990, Hubble was placed in a stable 380-mile-high orbit. However, over the past 32 years, atmospheric drag has forced the telescope into a lower orbit — a mere 335 miles above Earth’s surface. The most recent projections give Hubble a 50/50 chance of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere sometime in the year 2037.
A New Hope
However, depending on the success of a new study, Hubble may be granted a reprieve. NASA recently announced a new Space Act Agreement — or partnership — with SpaceX, and the Polaris Program, which will see the collaborators explore the potential of using a Dragon spacecraft to boost the Hubble Space Telescope’s degrading orbit.
This would be a tricky endeavour. Figuring out how to make two spacecraft rendezvous in low-Earth orbit is a complex undertaking at the best of times, though it has become relatively commonplace in modern day spaceflight thanks to the crew rotation requirements of the International Space Station.
Scientists will also need to develop a way to modify a Dragon spacecraft to allow it to securely dock with the telescope, and figure out how to fire its thrusters to raise Hubble’s orbit without placing its delicate instruments at risk.
An image of Hubble captured from the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009 (Credit: NASA)
The key to safely docking the two spacecraft could be the Soft Capture Mechanism that was installed on Hubble’s aft bulkhead during the final shuttle servicing mission in 2009. This ring-like addition was initially designed to allow a robotic probe to grapple onto the observatory in order to de-orbit it in a controlled fashion. However, it could equally be a means to extend Hubble’s life.
The 6-month feasibility study will also examine whether such a mission could service the telescope by, for example, replacing some of the gyroscopes that help Hubble remain steady as it makes observations of distant stars and galaxies.
In an ideal scenario, NASA and SpaceX would look to boost Hubble back up to its initial orbit 380 miles above Earth — a move which would significantly extend its scientific career, and allow it to complement observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA is keen to emphasize that the agreement with SpaceX is simply a feasibility study designed to explore commercial opportunities and that it has not committed to greenlighting a servicing mission. It is also not paying SpaceX or the Polaris Program to undertake their part of the research.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft ‘Endeavour’ approaching the International Space Station in 2021 (Credit: NASA)
However, if the results of the study are promising, then the opportunity to extend Hubble’s scientific career would be a tempting prospect.
Regardless, whilst Hubble and Dragon are set to be the focus of the new study, its findings could be used to inform any future missions seeking to service a spacecraft or give it an orbital boost.
“SpaceX and the Polaris Program want to expand the boundaries of current technology and explore how commercial partnerships can creatively solve challenging complex problems,” commented Vice President of Customer Operations and Integration at SpaceX, Jessica Jensen. “Missions such as servicing Hubble would help us expand space capabilities to ultimately help all of us achieve our goals of becoming a space-faring, multi-planetary civilization.”
Anthony Wood is a freelance science writer for IGN