WASHINGTON — Two firms have disclosed details about how they may raise the orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA evaluates that and other concepts offered to the agency.
Astroscale and Momentus said May 9 that they submitted a response to a NASA request for information (RFI) issued in December 2022 looking for concepts from industry about how they may raise the orbit of Hubble, has been slowly descending because the last shuttle servicing mission in 2009.
The 2 firms proposed working together to connect a vehicle to the telescope and lift its orbit. Their concept involved using technologies Astroscale is developing to dock with and extend the lifetime of satellites and orbital transfer vehicles from Momentus.
Within the proposal, a Momentus orbital service vehicle, launched on a small launch vehicle, would approach Hubble, attaching to it with Astroscale’s technology. The vehicle would boost Hubble’s orbit, currently at an altitude of about 527 kilometers, by 50 kilometers before undocking. The vehicle could then be used to remove orbital debris in orbits approaching Hubble.
“We found our product suites to be synergistic in support of a serious NASA mission,” John Rood, chief executive of Momentus, said within the statement announcing the concept. “I’m thrilled that we collaborated to supply NASA a really cost-effective option to proceed to operate this billion-dollar scientific investment by leveraging latest robotic in-space servicing technology.”
Astroscale is already developing all the weather needed to perform such a reboost, but an organization spokesperson said they decided to work together “because we recognize that that is a possibility to bolster the in-space servicing ecosystem on a bigger scale by providing NASA a commercially viable, all-American small business solution.” The partnership, the corporate added, would also reduce schedule risk and permit the businesses to share costs.
NASA, within the RFI, said it expected any firms that it’d later select to reboost Hubble to achieve this “on a no-exchange-of-funds basis.” NASA wouldn’t procure a reboost mission but said the mission may very well be an illustration of satellite servicing capabilities that may attract other, paying business or government customers.
A NASA spokesperson told SpaceNews May 12 that the agency received eight responses to the RFI, that are currently being reviewed. It didn’t disclose who submitted the responses, and Astroscale and Momentus are the one firms which have publicized their response.
NASA emphasized that the RFI is solely an effort to assist the agency determine whether and easy methods to reboost Hubble’s orbit. “The responses to the RFI usually are not proposals, but relatively information for the federal government to contemplate because it determines any next steps.”
NASA issued the RFI nearly three months after it announced it signed a Space Act Agreement with SpaceX to check a Hubble reboost mission using a Crew Dragon spacecraft. That proposed mission may very well be a part of the Polaris program of personal astronaut missions funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who participated within the September 2022 briefing that announced the study.
Neither NASA nor SpaceX have released details in regards to the study, which was set to conclude nearly six months after it began. A NASA spokesperson confirmed May 12 that the study was now complete. “The feasibility study has concluded, and NASA is now internally evaluating the findings and dealing to find out next steps.”
Hubble stays in good condition and is in high demand amongst astronomers. The spacecraft’s orbit is regularly decaying due to atmospheric drag, and NASA previously estimated a 50% probability it might reenter by 2037.
The studies about raising the orbit of Hubble come amid a burst of activity in satellite servicing in industry, starting from efforts to increase the lives of geostationary orbit communications satellites to refueling and repairing spacecraft. There’s also growing interest in removing debris and performing controlled reentries of defunct satellites.
“The Hubble’s need for a reboost must be a crucial wake-up call as to why the space industry needs dynamic and responsive in-space infrastructure, and on this case, to increase opportunities to explore our universe,” Ron Lopez, president and managing director of Astroscale U.S., said within the statement announcing Astroscale’s work with Momentus. “The proliferation of in-space servicing and assembly allows us to reimagine how our investments are managed in space; it’s the muse on which the brand new space age is being built.”