NASA wants ideas from private companies on how to save the Hubble Space Telescope, Ars Technica and The Verge report.

The agency put out a request for information on Thursday. It asks companies how they could boost Hubble to an altitude of at least 600 kilometers, improve the telescope, or guide it to a controlled reentry. Answers are due November 30.

Any mission must not harm the telescope and is expected to fly by 2032, NASA wrote, according to Ars Technica. The company would supply the rocket, the servicing spacecraft and the mission team.

Hubble has no engines of its own. It now orbits about 470 kilometers above Earth and has been sinking since its last boost in 2002, Ars Technica reports. Without help, it will likely fall and burn up in 2033 or 2034. A boost to 600 kilometers could keep it up for at least 25 more years.

"Hubble still has important science ahead of it, and we should be looking at every reasonable opportunity to keep it delivering for as long as possible," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

NASA tried this before. A 2022 request drew eight responses, but the agency chose not to go ahead in 2024. Isaacman, then a private astronaut, had offered to help fund a crewed mission at the time.

NASA is not committing to buy a mission and has no money set aside for one, Ars Technica reports. Isaacman said he expects interest from robotics companies.

What we know: NASA is gathering ideas until November 30.
What we don't: Whether it will fund a mission, or what one would cost.