<p class="title">NASA and SpaceX have agreed to study the feasibility of awarding Elon Musk's company a contract to boost the Hubble Space Telescope to a higher orbit, with a goal of extending its lifespan, the US space agency said Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The renowned observatory has been operating since 1990 about 335 miles (540 kilometres) above Earth, in an orbit that slowly decays over time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hubble has no on-board propulsion to combat the small, but noticeable amount of atmospheric drag in this region of space, and its altitude has previously been restored during Space Shuttle missions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The proposed new effort would involve a SpaceX Dragon capsule.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"A few months ago, SpaceX approached NASA with the idea for a study whether a commercial crew could help reboost our Hubble spacecraft," NASA's chief scientist Thomas Zuburchen told reporters, adding the agency had agreed to the study at no cost to itself.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He stressed there are no concrete plans at present to conduct or fund such a mission until the technical challenges are better understood.</p>.<p class="bodytext">One of the main obstacles would be that the Dragon spacecraft, unlike the Space Shuttles, does not have a robotic arm and would need modifications for such a mission.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SpaceX proposed the idea in partnership with the Polaris Program, a private human spaceflight venture led by payments billionaire Jared Isaacman, who last year chartered a SpaceX Crew Dragon to orbit the Earth with three other private astronauts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This would certainly fit within the parameters we established for the Polaris program," Isaacman said in response to a question about whether reboosting Hubble could be the goal for a future Polaris mission.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Asked by a reporter whether there might be a perception the mission was contrived in order to give wealthy people tasks to do in space, Zuburchen said: "I think it's only appropriate for us to look at this because of the tremendous value this research asset has for us."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Arguably among the most valuable instruments in scientific history, Hubble continues to make important discoveries, including this year detecting the farthest individual star ever seen -- Earendel, whose light took 12.9 billion years to reach us.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is currently forecast to remain operational throughout this decade, with a 50 per cent chance of de-orbiting in 2037, said Patrick Crouse, Hubble Space Telescope project manager.</p>
<p class="title">NASA and SpaceX have agreed to study the feasibility of awarding Elon Musk's company a contract to boost the Hubble Space Telescope to a higher orbit, with a goal of extending its lifespan, the US space agency said Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The renowned observatory has been operating since 1990 about 335 miles (540 kilometres) above Earth, in an orbit that slowly decays over time.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Hubble has no on-board propulsion to combat the small, but noticeable amount of atmospheric drag in this region of space, and its altitude has previously been restored during Space Shuttle missions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The proposed new effort would involve a SpaceX Dragon capsule.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"A few months ago, SpaceX approached NASA with the idea for a study whether a commercial crew could help reboost our Hubble spacecraft," NASA's chief scientist Thomas Zuburchen told reporters, adding the agency had agreed to the study at no cost to itself.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He stressed there are no concrete plans at present to conduct or fund such a mission until the technical challenges are better understood.</p>.<p class="bodytext">One of the main obstacles would be that the Dragon spacecraft, unlike the Space Shuttles, does not have a robotic arm and would need modifications for such a mission.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SpaceX proposed the idea in partnership with the Polaris Program, a private human spaceflight venture led by payments billionaire Jared Isaacman, who last year chartered a SpaceX Crew Dragon to orbit the Earth with three other private astronauts.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This would certainly fit within the parameters we established for the Polaris program," Isaacman said in response to a question about whether reboosting Hubble could be the goal for a future Polaris mission.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Asked by a reporter whether there might be a perception the mission was contrived in order to give wealthy people tasks to do in space, Zuburchen said: "I think it's only appropriate for us to look at this because of the tremendous value this research asset has for us."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Arguably among the most valuable instruments in scientific history, Hubble continues to make important discoveries, including this year detecting the farthest individual star ever seen -- Earendel, whose light took 12.9 billion years to reach us.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is currently forecast to remain operational throughout this decade, with a 50 per cent chance of de-orbiting in 2037, said Patrick Crouse, Hubble Space Telescope project manager.</p>