NASA has asked commercial space companies for ideas on servicing the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit, including raising its altitude, as atmospheric drag pulls the observatory toward Earth, Wired reported Friday¹.

Hubble has no propulsion system of its own¹. Wired, citing NASA analysis, said that if left unchecked the telescope would likely reenter Earth's atmosphere in 2033 or 2034¹.

The agency issued a formal Request for Information on in-space servicing that could boost Hubble to a higher orbit, manage a controlled reentry or disposal, or add upgrades while it still operates¹.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said Hubble still has important science ahead and that the agency should look at reasonable chances to keep it working¹. Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, called Hubble "a national icon" and said NASA wants to explore boosting it while a follow-on flagship is developed¹.

Astronauts serviced Hubble five times after its 1990 launch, Wired reported, with a final shuttle visit in 2009 after an earlier post-Columbia cancellation was reversed¹. In September 2022, NASA signed a nonfunded partnership with SpaceX to study using a Dragon spacecraft to raise Hubble; NASA said then it had no plans to run or pay for that mission itself¹.

Wired's account is a translation of a WIRED Japan story and does not report which companies, if any, have already bid or whether NASA will fund a flight¹.