NASA hopes the commercial space industry can help save Hubble

NASA 希望商业航天工业能够帮助拯救哈勃望远镜。

The Hubble Space Telescope will come crashing to Earth sometime in the 2030s without a boost.

如果没有助推，哈勃空间望远镜将在 21 世纪 30 年代的某个时候坠入地球。

Gravity is a cruel mistress, slowly dragging the famed telescope ever closer to its ultimate demise with every day. Hubble is in no immediate danger of burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere, but its time will run out in the early to mid 2030s unless its orbit is boosted. So NASA is taking proposals from the private sector to see if anyone can save it.

引力是一位冷酷的主宰，每天都在将这台著名的望远镜缓慢地拖向其最终的毁灭。哈勃目前没有立即在大气层中烧毁的危险，但除非其轨道得到提升，否则它的寿命将在 21 世纪 30 年代初至中期耗尽。因此，NASA 正在接受私营部门的提案，看看是否有人能拯救它。

In a post on NASA’s site, Administrator Jared Isaacman said: “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 … If there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset already on orbit, we owe it to the American taxpayer and the scientific community to explore them. Extending Hubble’s life would mean more discoveries, more science, and more opportunities to expand our understanding of the universe.”

在 NASA 网站的一篇文章中，局长贾里德·艾萨克曼（Jared Isaacman）表示：“哈勃仍有重要的科学任务等待完成，我们应该寻找每一个合理的机会，让它尽可能长久地发挥作用……如果存在创新且具有成本效益的方法来延长轨道上资产的寿命，我们有责任为美国纳税人和科学界去探索这些方法。延长哈勃的寿命意味着更多的发现、更多的科学成果，以及更多扩展我们对宇宙理解的机会。”

The agency will keep the Request for Information open through November 30th at 3 PM ET.

该机构将保持信息征集（Request for Information）开放至美国东部时间 11 月 30 日下午 3 点。