NASA and SpaceX will try to extend the life of the Hubble orbiting telescope

NASA

and

to send the

to a

to extend its life.

This was announced Thursday by the US space agency.

The telescope, which has been operating

about 540 kilometers from Earth, is seeing its orbit slowly deteriorate due to atmospheric friction.

Hubble has no means of propulsion on board and its altitude had already been corrected in the past during the missions of the American Space Shuttle.

The proposed new mission would see the use of SpaceX's Dragon rocket.

The last maintenance mission for Hubble took place in

and the space telescope is still doing very well.

The end of its operation was scheduled by 2030, but now it is thought it could work even

so there is no fixed date for the Hubble retreat.

The telescope will continue to function as long as its components work and it provides a good service to the scientific community.

To do this, it must be

in orbit and

.

NASA's original plans to safely deorbit the Hubble were to bring it back to Earth using a Space Shuttle, to then be exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution.

This is no longer possible due to the withdrawal of the fleet, but it would have been unlikely given the cost of the mission and the risks for the crew, preferring the hypothesis of adding an additional propulsion module to allow a controlled reentry.

In

Administration

considered a proposal from

to use a crewed version of the Dream Chaser to offer maintenance to the Hubble on occasion during the 2020s. Now it is

's

that offers a chance to the glorious telescope that, if the collaboration is successful, will be able to continue to scan the depths of space for a long time to come.