WASHINGTON — An issue with the Hubble Space Telescope has renewed discussion about whether and the way NASA might approve a non-public mission to reboost and potentially repair the spacecraft.
NASA announced Nov. 29 that Hubble was in a secure mode due to an issue with one in all its three operational gyroscopes. That gyro first triggered a secure mode Nov. 19 when it provided what NASA described as faulty readings. Spacecraft controllers restored operations of Hubble, only to see problems again Nov. 21 and 23.
The agency said within the statement that engineers were studying the issue and didn’t estimate when science operations would resume. Hubble can operate with only a single gyro, although with some lack of productivity, similar to the shortcoming to perform some solar system observations.
Hubble has six gyros, which were installed on the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission in 2009. Three of the six have since malfunctioned.
The news of this latest, temporary problem with Hubble prompted a response from Jared Isaacman, the billionaire backing the Polaris program of SpaceX private astronaut missions. “Put us in coach,” he posted on social media.
That was a reference to a study announced in September 2022 involving Isaacman, SpaceX and NASA to review the feasibility of a non-public mission to reboost and possibly repair Hubble using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. On the time Isaacman suggested that a Hubble mission might be the second of three planned Polaris missions.
The study, performed under an unfunded Space Act Agreement, was accomplished earlier this 12 months, but neither NASA nor SpaceX have provided any details concerning the results of the study or next steps.
Isaacman, in other social media posts, suggested the study concluded a reboost and servicing mission was feasible: “this ought to be a simple risk/reward decision.” Nonetheless, he didn’t disclose details about how the mission could be conducted.
SpaceX can also be not the one option for servicing Hubble. NASA issued a request for information last December looking for concepts for industrial missions to reboost Hubble. NASA said it might not fund such a mission, as a substitute offering it as a chance for firms to exhibit their satellite servicing capabilities.
The agency received eight responses, including one from satellite servicing company Astroscale in partnership with in-space transportation company Momentus. NASA said on the time it was evaluating them, but gave no timeline for completing that review.
“A part of that review means taking a look at the capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope itself and the way this might work in concert with the telescope, and make sure that the telescope itself stays secure through the process,” Mark Clampin, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said of the review of those servicing proposals during a NASA science town hall meeting July 27.
Industry officials have privately said they imagine that a reboost mission of some kind, involving either Crew Dragon or a robotic spacecraft, is possible with current capabilities. Doing so would help extend Hubble’s life by counteracting a gradual decay in its orbit from atmospheric drag.
There’s more skepticism, though, concerning the ability to repair Hubble given the complexity of such work. Dragon lacks capabilities like an airlock and robotic arm for servicing, while robotic systems have yet to exhibit the flexibility to perform advanced repairs in orbit.
There’s also the problem of cost. While NASA said a reboost mission could be done on a no-exchange-of-funds basis, a servicing mission likely would have some cost to NASA, industry experts said, similar to hardware needed to perform the repairs and time from NASA engineers to support that work.
That comes because the agency’s science divisions prepare for potential significant budget cuts. That features, Clampin said at an advisory committee meeting Oct. 13, considering a cut within the operating budget for Hubble in fiscal 12 months 2024 by an unspecified amount.