(Reuters) Agency officials say that Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, plans to pay for research with NASA to figure out how to use the Dragon spacecraft to raise the Hubble Space Telescope’s orbital altitude, which would make it last longer.
NASA’s science chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, told reporters at a last-minute press conference that SpaceX will pay for the entire six-month study. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft takes people and supplies to and from the International Space Station on behalf of NASA.
A few months ago, SpaceX talked to NASA about doing a study on how a commercial crew could help move our Hubble spacecraft into a higher orbit, which would give it more time to observe.
Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has been a workhorse for astronomers all over the world. It has given them beautiful pictures of the stars and helped them make important discoveries like the age of the universe and Pluto’s moons.
NASA said that teams will gather information to “help figure out if it would be possible to safely meet up, dock, and move the telescope into a more stable orbit.”
During the American shuttle programme in the early 2000s, Hubble The investigation will look into whether SpaceX’s Dragon capsule needs to be changed in order to dock with the telescope and raise its orbit, as well as whether people are needed for a possible trip. maintenance on several occasions. Astronomers have thought about a number of strategies to maintain the outdated but still functional telescope since that program’s discontinuation in 2011. There are no developed plans.
The investigation will look into whether SpaceX’s Dragon capsule needs to be changed in order to dock with the telescope and raise its orbit, as well as whether people are needed for a possible trip.
During the press conference, Jessica Jensen, vice president of customer operations at SpaceX, remarked, “At this moment, everything is on the table.”
NASA officials stressed that the deal with SpaceX is only for a study that will be paid for by SpaceX. It does not mean that NASA plans to take care of the telescope in the future.
