SpaceX and NASA Might Team Up to Save the Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope might be getting a much needed boost after NASA and SpaceX inked an agreement to explore ways to lift the spacecraft higher into orbit. The 32-year-old orbital instrument has been steadily falling back to Earth since its last service mission in 2009. That’s why NASA and SpaceX have signed a Space Act Agreement—which allows the agency to work with private entities—to study the viability of nudging the telescope back up, thereby extending its lifespan by an estimated 15 to 20 years. The idea would be to send SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the Hubble in order to boost it from its current 332 mile altitude orbit, to the 372 mile altitude it was originally stationed at when it was launched 1990. The study will look at the economic feasibility of such a mission, and explore whether or not the two parties could conduct a service mission to upgrade and repair the Hubble as well.