Right now, engineers are busy creating the first parts of what will eventually become Gateway Space Station. One day, if all goes according to plan, Gateway will serve as the first space station in lunar orbit and the first real transportation hub on the moon. Although not planned to be permanently inhabited, the station is being built to serve as a forward base for astronauts on missions to the Artemis moon through the 1930s and beyond.
And even though it may seem primary NASA project, Gate is an international effort. Europe, Japan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates are all contributing parts of the station.
In the midst of all the efforts to build this incredible space laboratory, NASA released an artist’s 3D rendering of the Gateway showing what the station might look like if and when everything goes live – including all the currently planned modules. We took a closer look. Here’s what we found out.
1. THE HALL
It is the heart of the station Residential and logistic base (HALO) module, a squat cylinder that will serve as one half of Gateway’s main crew area.
Unlike International Space Stationwhich circulates EarthGateway will not be a permanent base in space. Instead, it will be more of a forward base. Starting with the second manned Artemis mission, Artemis IV, the astronauts will use the Gateway as an operations center where they will live and work on board when they are not walking. Moon below.
Related: NASA’s Gateway space station in lunar orbit explained in pictures
Thus, HALO will be the command and communication module of the gate. During times when the gateway is unoccupied, the module will contain software that will allow the station to run largely on its own. HALO will also house some Gateway science projects, such as Tools to measure radiation levels inside the module.
We also see a tendril on HALO Canadarm3: successor to the Canadian Space Agency iconic arm which today serves the International Space Station. When Canadarm3 is installed, it will be able to perform repairs autonomously.
2. PPE
At one end of the HALO is the Gateway Power and drive element (PPE). The station’s main power source, the PPE, will rely on a pair of solar panels that will generate 60 kilowatts of electricity.
Not only will this electricity power the rest of the station’s needs, but it will also power the station’s electric propulsion system located between two solar panels. The OOP will use this electricity to ionize xenon. The Gateway will rely on this propulsion system to keep itself inside highly eccentric orbit which ranges between 3,000 and 70,000 kilometers (1,875 and 43,750 mi) of the lunar surface.
Together, HALO and PPE will form the initial foundation of Gateway. If all goes according to plan, they will reach the Moon in time for Artemis IV, currently scheduled for launch in 2028.
3. Lunar I-Hab
At the other end of the HALO is a second squat cylinder, similar in size to the HALO itself. It is Lunar I-Hab. Built together European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the I-Hab will serve as Gateway’s second crew module: the other half of the crew bay.
True to the “hab” in its name, the I-Hab will be the crew’s living and sleeping space. The four crew members of the Artemis mission will share a space the size of the inside of an RV. The module will contain a dining kitchen, as well as beds and an exercise area.
On the side of the bubble-shaped I-Hab clinging to the outside of the module is an air chamber that will allow the crew to exit the station. spacewalks. The United Arab Emirates will provide this airlock.
Current plans call for Artemis IV to deliver the I-Hab to Gateway when it flies there in 2028.
4. Lunar view
We move back to the HALO, docked on its side, and see a gilded cylinder Lunar view (until recently known as the European Infrastructure Provision System for Refueling and Telecommunications or ESPIRIT).
Another module created by ESA, Lunar View, will serve as an expansion pack for Gateway. Lunar View will only join HALO, PPE and I-Hab on a later mission. On the current list is Artemis V, scheduled for launch in 2030.
Lunar View is both functional and aesthetic. The functional part is the primary function of the module: extra storage. The Lunar View can accommodate a small volume of cargo, no doubt a welcome addition to the HALO and the somewhat cramped I-Hab. The module will also contain additional fuel for PPE.
The aesthetic part comes in the form of the largest Gateway windows. Lunar View will contain six windows, arranged around the capsule and protected against orbital debrisallowing Gateway residents to admire, well, an amazing view of the moon.
5. Spaceship
More than just a showcase of Gateway’s design, the video also shows a glimpse of what Gateway might one day look like when fully operational as a lunar transit hub. Three spacecraft are attached to the station.
At the far end of the I-Hab she is docked Orion capsulethe mainstay of the Artemis mission and the vessel on which the astronauts will ride to and from Earth.
The cylinder attached to the I-Hab side is Deep Space Logistics (DLS) cargo spacecraft that has a dedicated docking port there. Each new Artemis mission will bring one of these to the Gateway with them, carrying equipment, supplies and scientific experiments to use during their time on the moon.
Finally, on the flip side of HALO and Lunar View is connected Human Landing System (HLS) — the craft that, starting with Artemis IV, will actually bring astronauts down to the lunar surface.
6. Scientific experiments
In addition to the astronauts, Gateway will also contain several scientific payloads. Each new Artemis mission will bring a new batch of experiments. A NASA video shows two that are planned to fly on the Gateway’s exterior.
An ESA hangs on the side of the PPE European system of radiation sensors (ERSA), a suite of instruments for measuring cosmic rays beyond Earth’s protection magnetic field. In fact, ERSA’s life will begin even before it connects to the Gateway, as it will measure the radiation experienced by the PPE as it passes through the Earth’s surface. Van Allen belts.
NASA is attached to HALO Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite (HERMES), which will measure particles on Earth magnetotail. Basically how the Earth is hit solar stormmagnetotail will pass the moon whenever the moon is in the right place in its orbit.
These experiments will tell us about Solar System‘s a high-energy environment, sure. But space agencies and scientists also hope to use the information gleaned from these experiments to better prepare astronauts for much longer missions much further into the future — manned expeditions to Marsmaybe.