NASA has awarded a $196.3 million contract extension to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy to continue its science operations support for the Hubble Space Telescope at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
The agency said Friday the extension brings the total contract value to $2 billion and requires products and services to support science system engineering, ground system development, operations, research and grants management.
The extension also covers public outreach support for Hubble and data archive support for the NASA-funded Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes project, the agency added.
AURA will perform work through June 30, 2021.
Hubble is projected to operate until 2020 while the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled for launch in 2018 to continue Hubble’s functions as a space observatory.
