The Hubble Space Telescope has certainly done a lot for the study of our universe, but as we well know it is not destined to remain in space forever indeed he should “retire” in a few years. In the meantime, however, there are those who have devised a solution to avoid the inevitable.
We are talking about the startup Astroscale based in Tokyo e Momentus Space based in California who have worked out a joint plan to save Hubble. NASA doesn’t want to abandon its veteran and in 2022 it launched an appeal to all commercial space agencies to bring Hubble back into vogue… which continues to release real masterpieces.
While SpaceX is also working on a plan, the bold new proposal from Momentus and Astroscale is also very intriguing: a rocket would bring a “space tug” with water propulsion into low Earth orbit, which would drag the NASA telescope about 50 kilometers into a new orbit.
Momentus is already working on a water-powered space tug, while Astroscale has been experimenting with its own specialized technique for capturing space debris. “What we have proposed to NASA are options“, said Ron Lopez, president and chief executive officer of Astroscale in his statement. “Options that were not available during the previous five manned assistance missions.“
By the way, here is a list of curiosities about the telescope with glasses.
