New private plan to rescue Hubble Space Telescope may also target space junk

fisheye view of space shuttle payload bay with a robotic arm at center. in foreground is hubble space telescope with two solar panels floating into space

A private consortium wants to help extend the Hubble Space Telescope's lifetime, while cleaning up orbital debris in the neighborhood as well.

Space startups Momentus and Astroscale sent a proposal to NASA after the agency issued a request for information in December 2022 regarding a non-exclusive SpaceX study announced in September. (SpaceX's unfunded proposal is examining options to put the 33-year-old Hubble Space Telescope in a "reboosted" higher orbit, but other companies are allowed to put their own ideas forward, too.)