As International Space Station approaching retirement in 2030, NASA and its suppliers are working hard on the new laboratory, which will shine through space much farther from Earth.
Right now at the plant in Turin, Italy, engineers are stress testing the base module Gatea lunar space station designed to provide astronauts with a place to live, conduct scientific research, and prepare for moonwalks.
Although it may not look like it at the moment, the red bronze hollow cylinder pictured above is a critical aspect of NASA. Artemis lunar mission. It will house life support systems for astronauts, exercise equipment and banks for scientific instruments. NASA named the main module HALO, which stands for Habitation and Logistics Outpost.
If this all sounds like sci-fi mumbo jumbo that’s decades into the future, think again: NASA and its partners plan to send HALO and its propulsion element into lunar orbit. SpaceX The Falcon Heavy rocket will welcome its first guests next year around 2028. If successful, Gateway will be the first space station in lunar orbit.
“NASA and its international partners will explore the scientific mysteries of deep space with Gateway,” the agency says, “to return humans to the Moon and chart a path for the first human missions to Mars.”
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NASA named the main module HALO, which stands for Habitation and Logistics Outpost.
Credit: Thales Alenia Space
Maintaining a space station around a planetary body other than Earth will not be an easy task. While the ISS orbits just 250 miles above Earth and is only a short spaceflight away in an emergency, the Moon is over 230,000 miles in the distance, with the fastest journey back home taking two to four days.
Despite the challenges, NASA is getting a lot of international help to bring Gateway to fruition. Europe, United Arab EmiratesCanada and Japan contribute key components to building a station that will have a unique journey around the Moon.
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Scientists considered many potential pathways before determining the best fit for Gateway. The station will fly in a so-called “near rectilinear halo orbit”. From 2022, a small spacecraft the size of a microwave oven, CAPSTONEexplored this path that would look a bit like a string of pearls hanging from your neck if you drew it on paper.
The unusual orbit is intended to be economical and offer relatively close access to the moon’s south pole, where astronauts will explore and search water ice around shadowy craters and train for life in an alien environment.
One might ask, why not low orbit around the moon? It would certainly bring the station closer to Earth, but it would also require a lot more fuel to counter the pull of the moon’s gravity, according to NASA. On the other hand, a distant retrograde orbit, while more stable and less fuel-consuming, would be too inconvenient for round trips to the surface.
But the nearly rectilinear halo orbit, a weekly loop around the lunar poles, is thought to offer the best of both worlds. The station would also face Earth continuously, allowing uninterrupted communication with flight controllers.
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The HALO section is only one of four modules where international astronauts will live and work. NASA said the Gateway assembly in space will occur in phases, starting with the Artemis IV mission, which is planned for September 2028 at the earliest, and ending with Artemis VI. Expansion pieces start with Orion spacecraft on top of NASA Space Launch Systeminformally referred to as “mega moon rocket.”
If you’re having trouble imagining how it all comes together, take a look back at the new HALO photo. Inside the module on the right side of the tube is the cargo spacecraft and the European Space Agency Lunar view, a module with large windows, will be docked. This key part of the ESA will have refueling capabilities for the propulsion module.
NASA gave the propulsion module perhaps the least creative name in the agency’s history: the Power and Propulsion Element. It will use solar power for Gateway subsystems and ionize xenon gas for the thrust needed to maintain the station’s orbit.
NASA astronauts see similar images as they tour the Gateway Space Station with virtual reality.
Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center
To the left on the outside of the HALO is the docking port where SpaceX is A starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers will dock during the Artemis IV and V missions. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the use of private vendors will help the agency reduce technical risks and costs for the Artemis program, which seeks to use the moon as a launch pad for eventual missions. Mars.
“I’ve said it before: We want more competition. We want two landers, and that’s better, and that means you have reliability. You have backups,” Nelson told reporters last year. “It’s a public-private partnership. It’s a new way to go to the moon.”
After engineers finish stress testing HALO at Thales Alenia Space in Italy, the module will travel to Gilbert, Arizona, where its builder, Northrop Grumman, will complete the equipment and prepare it for launch.