Billionaires are having a space moment right now. Elon Musk from SpaceX, Jeff Bezos of Blue Origineven Richard Branson from Virgin Galactic — all the luxurious people build rockets so they can fly into space. But one billionaire alone is not enough look in space: I want to touch it. Specifically tap on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Jared Isaacman, a guy who once made a payment processor, offered NASA funding for a maintenance mission to Hubble. Isaacman doesn’t own a space company himself, but he offers funding for SpaceX missions to aging, beleaguered orbital science equipment. There’s only one problem according to NPR: NASA believes it may do more harm than good.
Internal NASA emails obtained by NPR through a Freedom of Information Act request show that longtime Hubble experts were asked to comment about a year ago. They expressed concerns about the risks associated with the proposal.
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At best, a successful private mission could improve Hubble’s ability to point to celestial bodies and, by increasing its orbit, add years to its lifespan.
But in a worst-case scenario, an accident could leave the multi-billion-dollar telescope damaged or, even more tragically, attached to the bodies of astronauts sent to repair it.
For his part, Isaacman doesn’t seem concerned about the risks. In his opinion, NASA’s objections – which, it is worth noting, have not yet led to the final rejection of the proposal – concern only the control of space. Once again from NPR:
“Until now, there has only been one group that has ever touched Hubble. And I think they have an opinion on whether – who should and who shouldn’t be able to touch it.” – Isaacman he said. “I think a lot of people would say, ‘I’d rather see it burn,’ than, you know, go down the slippery slope in the face of a growing space community. So I think that unfortunately matters now.”
If there’s one thing NASA classically wants, it’s to keep total control of space as a concept and bar anyone else from entering. That’s why the agency has installations in museums across the country and often works with outside entities to promote enthusiasm for space – it’s all a large mistake designed to prevent other people from leaving the atmosphere. Four-dimensional chess.
Isaacman is not a scientist by profession, but he hopes to be one of the first civilians to take part in a spacewalk using Recent EVA suit from SpaceX (which hasn’t gone into space yet, but that’s okay). But he does it run a company engaged in the maintenance and operation of a private fleet of military aircraft. If this sounds dystopian and slightly scary, then Some Guy may own and operate approximately150 tactical fighters” without any electoral procedure that would allow it to be controlled, and that is because it is so.
NASA hasn’t announced yet whether it plans to let the Bond villain hook things up to Hubble, but the agency is taking the proposal very seriously. If an unconfirmed spacewalk could enhance the telescope’s orbit, it would be a huge boon for astronomers around the world – it might just cost humanity our own Hank Skorpion.
