Meet HALO, the First Module of NASA’s Gateway Lunar Space Station

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The Apollo moon expeditions functioned by employing a two-part spacecraft: the Command and Service Module (CSM) and the Lunar Module (LM). These parts journeyed together from the launch site at Cape Kennedy, reaching a quarter of a million miles into lunar orbit. Once there, the Lunar Module broke away to make its way down to the Moon’s surface.

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first steps on the moon’s surface, leaving footprints in the lunar soil, Michael Collins was stationed within the Command Module, patiently waiting for the reunion with the landing team before heading back home. More than half a century has passed since that momentous event, but when humanity returns to the Moon through the Artemis program, astronauts orbiting overhead will find a more comfortable spot to store their helmets.

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The HALO module will be central to the forthcoming lunar space station, Gateway, and it’s nearly time for its grand debut.

What is Gateway, NASA’s Lunar Space Station?

Similar to the International Space Station, Gateway offers a habitable workspace for astronauts in space, complete with pressurized living quarters. However, unlike the ISS, Gateway will orbit at greater distances and offer frequent trips to the moon’s surface. This space-based architecture project is almost as ambitious as the interstellar ships depicted in The Ark, currently streaming on Peacock.

The construction of the Gateway station will progress in phases, starting with HALO and its companion module, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). These two components will be combined to form a single spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where they will be mounted on top of a Falcon Heavy rocket. Upon launch, HALO and PPE will require approximately a year to establish a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon.

As a space enthusiast, I’m thrilled about Gateway’s unique comet-like trajectory compared to planets. Most days, it resides in the vast expanse of deep space, up to 43,500 miles from our Moon. Yet, every week, it swoops down for a close pass, hovering merely 1,000 miles above the lunar surface. This unusual orbit combines the advantages of a distant orbit (lower fuel consumption) with those of a near orbit (easy access to the Moon’s surface).

The Gateway serves multiple purposes: it’s designed as a space-based research station, a launchpad for lunar surface operations, and a crucial intermediate step leading to manned missions to Mars.

What is Gateway’s HALO module?

HALO (short for Habitation and Logistics Outpost) is the initial living quarters module for the Gateway space station, having been produced by Thales Alenia Space in Italy. This past leg of its journey took it to the Moon, with HALO making a stop at Northrop Grumman’s integration and testing facility in Arizona on April 1, 2025, following a swift flight across the Atlantic and over much of North America.

This module serves as a habitable environment where astronauts can carry out their tasks, conduct space research, and get ready for moon surface operations. Additionally, it offers landing spots for incoming spacecraft, refueling missions, and lunar rovers.

In Arizona, the HALO team is scheduled to set up propulsion and electrical conduits, add radiators for temperature management, and affix racks to accommodate life support systems, flight computers, avionics, and essential space equipment. Upon completion, HALO will incorporate an Internal Dosimeter Array (IDA), Heliophysics Environmental Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite (HERMES), and the European Radiation Sensors Array (ERSA) to assess and analyze cosmic radiation within a distinctive lunar setting.

Currently, the previously mentioned Power and Propulsion System (PPS) is being built at Maxar Space Systems’ facilities in California.

As a gamer, I’d be thrilled to have a personal power source like the PPE on my gaming setup! It’s a massive solar electric system, similar to what NASA uses for their asteroid-whacking DART missions. Two gigantic solar arrays, each as big as a football field’s endzone, soak up sunlight and transform it into electricity. This powerhouse churns out 60kW, enough juice to feed all the systems on Gateway and even power its solar electric propulsion system. The electricity from the PPE ionizes xenon gas, and those charged particles are blasted away from the craft to create thrust and keep it orbiting smoothly. When the panels can’t get enough sunlight during eclipse periods, batteries supplied by JAXA kick in to ensure a constant power supply. That’s some high-tech energy management I’d love to have for my next gaming marathon!

We’re going to join two spaceship parts together at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and we won’t launch them until at least September 2028, for the Artemis IV mission.

Future expeditions will incorporate additional components such as ESA’s Lunar I-Hab module. This will enable astronauts to reside and perform tasks on the Moon for approximately 30 days, dividing their time between deep space missions in orbit and surface activities at the lunar South Pole.

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2025-04-29 22:17