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To examine the viability of a SpaceX and Polaris Program concept to launch the agency's Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit with the Dragon spacecraft, at no expense to the government, NASA and SpaceX signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement on Thursday, September 22.
The study is intended to assist the agency in comprehending the commercial opportunities; NASA has no intentions to perform or fund a servicing mission or compete for this opportunity.
This study was proposed by SpaceX in collaboration with the Polaris Program to better understand the technological difficulties involved in servicing missions. Other businesses may suggest comparable experiments using different rockets or spacecraft as their basis; this study is not exclusive.
Teams anticipate that gathering technical data for the study will take up to six months, collecting technical data from both Hubble and the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. This data will help determine whether it would be possible to safely rendezvous, dock, and move the telescope into a more stable orbit.
“This study is an exciting example of the innovative approaches NASA is exploring through private-public partnerships,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “As our fleet grows, we want to explore a wide range of opportunities to support the most robust, superlative science missions possible.”
Source: NASA TV