science

Agency only looking for information, but reentry countdown ticking for veteran space telescope

NASA has posted a contract opportunity notice, also known as a request for information, from commercial space orgs who can service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble was always looked after by NASA astronauts flying on the Space Shuttle, yet the last Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission was the STS-125 Space Shuttle flight, launched on May 11, 2009. At the time, scientists hoped the mission would add another five years of operational life to the venerable spacecraft. Almost 17 years on, the HST (aka Hubble) is still delivering science.

However, time is running out for the observatory. NASA reckons there is a 10 percent chance it could reenter the Earth's atmosphere by September 2032, rising to 50 percent by December 2033.…