NASA Asks Companies: Can You Keep Hubble Flying?
The Hubble Space Telescope has been working for more than 35 years, and it is still making discoveries. But Hubble cannot stay up for ever on its own. It has no propulsion system, and the thin air at its altitude creates drag that slowly lowers its orbit. NASA now predicts that, left alone, Hubble is likely to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in 2033 to 2034.
On 29 October 2026, NASA took a new step. The agency issued a Request for Information — a formal call for ideas, not a contract — asking commercial companies what they could do about Hubble. The request was announced by NASA on 30 October 2026.
Three options on the table
NASA is seeking commercial interest in three kinds of mission:
- Boosting Hubble to a higher altitude, to extend its science lifetime.
- Servicing Hubble, to enhance what the telescope can do.
- Performing a safe, controlled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, or orbital disposal, at the end of Hubble's mission.
"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," said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "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. Extending Hubble's life would mean more discoveries, more science, and more opportunities to expand our understanding of the universe."
"Hubble is a national icon that has fundamentally changed how humanity views our universe for more than 35 years," said Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "Commercial industry has rapidly evolved in recent years to offer new capabilities for in-space satellite capture and servicing. Given the time we have until Hubble's anticipated re-entry, we are eager to explore the breadth of possibilities to boost Hubble to a higher orbit while we develop the flagship mission to follow."
A deadline, and no decision yet
Responses to the Request for Information are open until 3 p.m. EST on Monday, 30 November. NASA anticipates that any servicing mission would need to take place by 2032, given the predicted re-entry window. Importantly, the request commits NASA to nothing: no company has been selected, no mission has been approved, and no funding has been set aside. It is a fact-finding step, to learn what industry could actually do.
Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (the European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations, with support from Lockheed Martin Space; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
Astronauts last serviced Hubble in person in 2009, during the Space Shuttle era. Any future mission would have to capture a telescope that was never designed to be grabbed by a commercial spacecraft, raise or service it without harming it, and do so before its orbit decays too far. That is why NASA is asking first — before deciding whether a rescue is possible, sensible, or affordable.
For students, the story is a reminder that even the most famous telescope obeys the same physics as a falling leaf: without a push, drag wins, slowly but surely. Book your first lesson and compare verified physics and astronomy tutors to explore orbits, gravity and how telescopes work, online, in person or in a group class.
Sources:
- NASA Science, "NASA Explores Potential Commercial Servicing for Hubble Telescope", 30 October 2026: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-explores-potential-commercial-servicing-for-hubble-telescope/