NASA is turning to the commercial space industry for help saving the Hubble Space Telescope, The Verge reports.

The problem is orbital decay: atmospheric drag is slowly pulling Hubble lower, inching it toward an eventual destructive reentry. There's no immediate danger of the telescope burning up, but without intervention, physics wins — every day brings it a little closer to the end.

Hubble hasn't been serviced since the Space Shuttle program ended, which removed NASA's only way of reaching the telescope for repairs or a reboost. That's where private industry comes in. A commercial mission to raise Hubble's orbit could buy the observatory years of additional science, extending a run that has already redefined astronomy across more than three decades.

The idea of a privately flown Hubble rescue has circulated before, and NASA's renewed interest suggests the agency sees it as the most realistic path forward. The alternative is managing Hubble's decline toward a controlled disposal — an undignified end for the most famous telescope ever flown, and one NASA clearly isn't ready to accept yet.