NASA not yet sold on Polaris-Hubble servicing mission

In 2022 NASA and representatives from SpaceX and the Polaris Program gave a press conference announcing a study to boost and service the aging Hubble Space Telescope. However, in an NPR report, NASA officials and study reviewers are not yet sold on the need for such a risky mission.

Jared Issacman, commander of the Inspiration4 and upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, has a goal to hopefully service Hubble on a future Polaris mission. However, he can’t just show up unannounced, and move the historic space telescope around, but he can pay for it.

In 2022 Issacman announced that he would partner with SpaceX to perform a boost to Hubble and possibly service it like NASA used to do, all for free. NASA agreed that they would conduct a study about the possibility of such a mission but the six month study has come and likely gone with almost no word from NASA on their opinion.

According to emails obtained by NPR through the Freedom of Information Act, it sounds like there is not a lot of support from the agency and former team members for the mission.

The Polaris mission would likely go something like this: Using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, a crew would approach and dock with Hubble using a ring left by the final servicing mission back in 2009. That mission just recently celebrated its 15th anniversary Monday.

Using the thrusters of Dragon, the Polaris crew could raise Hubble’s orbit, saving it from burning up on reentry in the 2030s. Then, a spacewalk could be conducted to install new hardware to extend its life even further. Upgrades like to its gyros that help it point in the right direction, a component that has been a trouble for a while.

However, the extra risk to both the astronauts and Hubble seem to be putting NASA on the unfeasible side of the feasibility study. “SpaceX’s view of risks and willingness to accept risk is considerably different than NASA’s,” Dana Weigel, NASA ISS program manager and member of the study’s review board, said in an email to Nicola Fox, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Science.

Polaris Dawn is set to the be the mission SpaceX debuts its ability to perform private spacewalks. It just recently unveiled its new EVA capable space suit. This would be a major risk reduction mission if this all goes well.

However, Issacman believes NASA’s concern with his Hubble mission is its loss of control. Until now, only NASA astronauts on NASA rockets have touched Hubble. “NASA can work with Congress and the Administration to request funds for a Hubble reboost or enhancement mission, using a commercial partner where NASA is in the drivers seat, and the maturity of the space systems is higher and lower risk,” said former astronaut John Grunsfeld, also on the review board, about if there is a need to boost Hubble now versus later.

Hubble is an extremely important piece of scientific equipment, and the telescope portion still has a long life ahead of it. However, those components will far outlive Hubble’s control systems and orbit.

A lot of science can still be done with Hubble, even with James Webb Space Telescope now being the top dog. The two work in tandem, with Hubble serving as a second pair of eyes with many new discoveries Webb shares.

According to NPR, NASA has shared that they will release news on this study this week, although nothing has yet to come out.