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Keldura Daily · Science & Space

NASA seeks commercial options to extend Hubble’s working life

NASA has opened a Request for Information covering a higher orbit for Hubble, servicing to enhance its capabilities, and controlled re-entry or orbital disposal. NASA’s Anil Menon and CSA’s Joshua Kutryk attached a roll-out solar array to the station’s port-side truss, released its tension bolts and allowed it to unfurl over ten minutes; it is now generating power. NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is nearing atmospheric re-entry after losing about half its original altitude, according to Science News.

The field note

1 source · 2 items
  1. NASA is asking what industry can offer, not announcing a selected servicing mission or an awarded contract. [3]
  2. The request spans two different goals: preserving scientific operations and managing the telescope’s eventual d…
  3. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman frames an extension around whether industry can provide an innovative, cost-e…
Story 011 source

NASA seeks commercial options to extend Hubble’s working life

NASA has opened a Request for Information covering a higher orbit for Hubble, servicing to enhance its capabilities, and controlled re-entry or orbital disposal. Atmospheric drag is lowering the telescope’s orbit, and NASA estimates that an intervention would need to occur by 2032, ahead of likely re-entry in 2033–2034. [3]

Why it matters

Hubble cannot maintain its own orbit because it has no propulsion system; extending its scientific life therefore requires an outside intervention rather than an adjustment by the telescope itself. [3]

Key insights

  • NASA is asking what industry can offer, not announcing a selected servicing mission or an awarded contract. [3]
  • The request spans two different goals: preserving scientific operations and managing the telescope’s eventual disposal. [3]
  • NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman frames an extension around whether industry can provide an innovative, cost-effective option. [3]
Story 021 source

Astronauts install a working solar array on the space station

NASA’s Anil Menon and CSA’s Joshua Kutryk attached a roll-out solar array to the station’s port-side truss, released its tension bolts and allowed it to unfurl over ten minutes; it is now generating power. Their next spacewalk, scheduled for November 5, will install the eighth and final array in an upgrade intended to raise generating capacity from 160 to about 215 kilowatts. [5]

Why it matters

The completed upgrade would add about 55 kilowatts, roughly 34% above the stated 160-kilowatt capacity, to an orbital laboratory conducting plant, exercise and materials research. [5]

Key insights

  • The array deployed by rolling out after the astronauts released its tension bolts, rather than requiring them to unfold it manually throughout the process. [5]
  • The November 5 installation is intended to finish an upgrade sequence that began in June 2021. [5]
  • Research continuing aboard the station includes microgravity effects on plant-cell division and experiments aimed at improving crop disease resistance. [5]

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