Hubble's Thrusterless Maneuvers: How Reaction Wheels and Magnetism Redirect the Observatory

For more than thirty years, the Hubble Space Telescope has navigated the cosmos without burning a single drop of fuel — a quiet testament to the ingenuity of engineers who learned to borrow from the universe itself. By spinning internal wheels against the direction of desired movement and allowing Earth's own magnetic field to absorb the accumulated energy, Hubble reorients itself through physics rather than propulsion. This constraint-born elegance has extended the observatory's life far beyond its original design, transforming a practical limitation into an enduring strength.