Every year, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) plunges deeper and deeper into Earth’s atmosphere. At some point, it will turn into a fireball and its remains will return to their home planet, now for sure. However, despite all its years, HST has proven itself to be a very powerful tool even today, so the two companies are already developing a plan to save the device and extend its lifespan by a few more years.report from contraption.
At the end of 2022, NASA issued an appeal to anyone who can think of a way to raise Hubble’s orbit. Now Tokyo-based startup Astroscale and California-based Momentus Space have unveiled a very interesting project. In that, use joint efforts to achieve the goal of the space agency in a very ingenious way.
How is the procedure in companies? The project details this as follows: an unmanned rocket will be responsible for delivering fuel to low Earth orbit. The latest, developed by Momentus, will use its thrust through the water to drag the Hubble about 50 kilometers higher. In addition, during the process, he will be responsible for cleaning up space debris around the telescope to provide greater protection. This latest technology was developed by Astroscale.
NASA is still studying proposals to save the Hubble Space Telescope.
Certainly, NASA has not yet assessed the feasibility of the project. The US space agency is currently working with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, and plans to develop a project that will take the Hubble to new heights. In fact, at the end of 2022, the company offered the agency to keep the telescope for free.
Along the same lines, Ron Lopez, President and CEO of Astroscale, from the very beginning makes it clear that this is just a proposal, and not a project in development. In a statement, he notes that “we offered NASA options. Options that were not available during the previous five manned maintenance missions.”
When Hubble’s life is coming to an end, NASA will remove it from low Earth orbit by safe means. His remains are expected to land at sea, like all space artifacts that no longer work. In the meantime, before that happens, perhaps one of these start-up companies, in collaboration with the US space agency, can extend the lifetime of the telescope by another couple of years.
Source: Hiper Textual
