Why Is NASA Asking Private Companies to Help Hubble? The Telescope Has No Engine and Is Slowly Falling

The most famous telescope in history is in slow-motion trouble, and this week NASA made its thinking official. On October 29 the agency issued a Request for Information, a formal ask to industry, to find out what private companies could do for the Hubble Space Telescope: push it to a higher orbit, service it in space, or bring it down safely when the time comes.

Why Hubble is falling at all

Hubble circles Earth in low Earth orbit, where the atmosphere is incredibly thin but not zero. Every cubic metre up there still holds traces of air, and like all spacecraft in low Earth orbit, Hubble's altitude slowly decreases over time because of atmospheric drag.

Here is the part that surprises most people: Hubble has no propulsion system. It cannot fire a thruster to climb back up. For more than three decades the telescope has been on a one-way glide path downward, and NASA's analysis predicts it is likely to re-enter the atmosphere in the 2033 to 2034 timeframe. That is why the agency says any servicing or boosting mission would need to take place by 2032.

Why not just send astronauts again

For two decades, the answer to Hubble's problems was a space shuttle and a crew with tools. Astronauts visited the telescope five times to repair and upgrade it, most famously fixing its blurred vision in 1993. The last visit was Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009, and NASA has described that moment as the last time human hands touched Hubble.

The shuttles that made those missions possible no longer fly. So if anyone is going to reach Hubble again, it will have to be with a different kind of spacecraft, which is exactly what the Request for Information is testing. NASA's associate administrator for science, Nicky Fox, put it this way: commercial industry has rapidly evolved to offer new capabilities for in-space satellite capture and servicing, and given the time left before Hubble's anticipated re-entry, the agency is eager to explore the possibilities.

What NASA is actually asking for

The request is deliberately broad. NASA wants to hear about commercial interest in three things: a mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude and extend its science lifetime, servicing that could enhance the telescope's capabilities, or a safe, controlled re-entry into the atmosphere or orbital disposal at the end of its mission.

None of this is a contract or a funded mission yet. A Request for Information is the step before the step: companies describe what they could do, and NASA decides later whether to buy anything. Responses are due by 3 p.m. EST on Monday, November 30.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman framed it as a matter of stewardship. "If there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset already on orbit, we owe it to the American taxpayer and the scientific community to explore them," he said.

The takeaway

Hubble is still doing strong science more than 35 years after launch, a joint project of NASA and ESA managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with science operations run by the Space Telescope Science Institute. But physics is patient. A telescope with no engine in a draggy orbit has a date with the atmosphere, currently projected for 2033 or 2034. This week's request is NASA asking a simple question early rather than late: can the new commercial space industry give the old icon more time, or at least a planned ending?

Facts checked: October 31, 2026

Sources: NASA Science. NASA Explores Potential Commercial Servicing for Hubble Telescope, October 30, 2026 (Request for Information issued October 29, boost/service/disposal options, no propulsion system, predicted re-entry 2033-2034, mission needed by 2032, response deadline November 30, quotes from Isaacman and Fox). https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-explores-potential-commercial-servicing-for-hubble-telescope/ NASA Science. Hubble Celebrates the 15th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 4, May 10, 2024 (final astronaut servicing mission in May 2009, launch in 1990). https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-celebrates-the-15th-anniversary-of-servicing-mission-4/