By Aahil
October 06, 2022
Together, NASA and SpaceX will research whether the for-profit organization can launch the space telescope into a higher orbit.
It seems unlikely that the 32-year-old Hubble Space Telescope will disappear from view any time soon.
However, the high-tech object is gradually losing height as a result of typical atmospheric drag.
It might descend low enough to re-enter Earth's atmosphere by the mid- to late-2020s.
However, perhaps someone or someone can assist in boosting it back to its original altitude of 373 miles.
A collaborative study that NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX launched last week is investigating this concept.
The commercial corporation and the space agency are currently merely debating whether forming a partnership to transfer Hubble to a more stable orbit makes sense.
Scientists will examine if SpaceX's Dragon spaceship can assist in lifting Hubble's orbit during the course of a six-month research.
The larger and more potent James Webb Space Telescope was launched in December by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
The original space telescope is still taking detailed pictures of the universe and giving astronomers important new knowledge.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, stated in a news conference last week that "it's fully justified for us."
Because this research asset is so valuable to both us and others, Passant Rabi of Gizmodo remarked.
The Large Telescope, which bears the name of astronomer Edwin Hubble, was launched on April 24, 1990, with the aid of the spacecraft Discovery.
According to NASA, Hubble has made 1.5 million observations of planets, galaxies, far-off stars, and numerous other celestial bodies over the course of more than 30 years.