🔭NASA Weighs Hubble Rescue Mission or Controlled Deorbit as Reentry Odds Climb to 50% by 2033

Hubble may fall out of the sky by 2033

Hubble is running out of time, and NASA is finally weighing its options. The agency is considering either a servicing mission to extend the telescope's life or a controlled deorbit to bring it down safely. Without action, the observatory will reenter uncontrolled. If you work on space software, orbital tracking, or anything that depends on Hubble data, this matters. Hubble has no propulsion system, so when it comes down, nobody steers it. NASA's own requirement is a mission by 2032 that doesn't harm the telescope. The replacement, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, isn't expected until the 2040s, so there's a gap nobody is covering. The numbers: NASA puts a 10 percent chance of reentry by September 2032, rising to 50 percent by December 2033. The last servicing trip was STS-125 on May 11, 2009. Hubble has since switched from three gyros to one to stretch its life. Demand is still strong, with a 7:1 oversubscription rate. NASA has three options on the table: grapple and deorbit, boost the orbit to at least 600 km, or enhance performance to extend lifetime. This is a request for information, not a request for proposals, so no contracts yet.