Module statistics | |
---|---|
Part of | Gateway |
Launch date | 2025 (HLCS) 2029 (ERM) |
Launch vehicle | Falcon Heavy (HLCS) SLS Block 1B (ERM) |
Mass | 10,000 kg (22,000 lb) (at launch) [1] |
Length | 6.4 m (21 ft) [1] |
Diameter | 4.6 m (15 ft) [1] |
The European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) is an under construction module of the Lunar Gateway. [2] It will provide refueling through additional xenon and hydrazine capacity for use in the Power and Propulsion Element's ion engines and hydrazine thrusters. It will also provide additional communications equipment, a habitation area, and storage. [1] [3] [4] [5] It will have a launch mass of approximately 10,000 kg (22,000 lb), a length of 6.4 m (21 ft), and a diameter of 4.6 m (15 ft). [1] ESA awarded two parallel design studies for ESPRIT, one mostly led by Airbus in partnership with Comex and OHB [6] and one led by Thales Alenia Space. [7] The construction of the module was approved in November 2019. [8] [9] On 14 October 2020, Thales Alenia Space announced that they had been selected by ESA to build the ESPRIT module. [4] [5]
The module is currently slated to launch as a co-manifested payload on Artemis 5 in 2029. 1.5 tons of cargo will be packed inside the module for launch. [1]
The ESPRIT module will consist of two parts, the Halo Lunar Communication System (HLCS) and the ESPRIT Refueling Module (ERM).
The Halo Lunar Communication System (HLCS) will provide communications for the station, allowing it to transmit data to and receive data from other spacecraft on and around the Moon. It will launch in 2025 pre-attached to the HALO module, for which Thales has separately been awarded a contract by NASA to construct its hull and micrometeoroid protection. The HLCS will measure 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in both length and width, have a mass of 270 kg (600 lb), and feature two 125 cm (49 in) dish antennas. These will allow HLCS to achieve a data rate of up to 25Mbps.
Because of its two dishes, the system will be able to communicate with two different targets (including spacecraft landing on the Moon or operating around Gateway) at once in S- or K-band radio frequencies. [1]
The ESPRIT Refueling Module (ERM) will contain the propellant tanks, docking ports, and a small windowed habitation corridor. [4] [5] The interior of the module will primarily be used for storage, although it will feature one workstation for astronaut use and six windows. The workstation and windows will be useful for photographing the lunar surface, controlling Canadarm3, and monitoring docking spacecraft. The module features two docking ports, meaning that once it docks to the HALO module, resupply craft and other vessels can dock to ESPRIT. These can include future propellant tankers to further refuel Gateway if needed. The ERM also features batteries and small surface-mounted solar panels to power the module on its way to the Moon.
A small science airlock was planned for the module during early designs in order to transfer scientific payloads outside the Gateway, but recent designs lack the airlock.
The ERM is scheduled to launch on an SLS Block 1B launch vehicle in 2029, along with Artemis 5. [10] [11] Packed inside the module will be approximately 1.5 tons of cargo for ESPRIT and Gateway operations. Orion will dock to ESPRIT following launch and deliver it to Gateway. [1]
Tranquility, also known as Node 3, is a module of the International Space Station (ISS). It contains environmental control systems, life support systems, a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola.
A moonbase is a facility on or below the surface of the Moon, enabling human activity on the Moon. As such, it is different from a lunar space station in orbit around the Moon, like the planned Lunar Gateway of the Artemis program. Moonbases can be for robotic or human use, in both cases not necessarily including lunar habitation facilities.
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%). The company is headquartered in Cannes, France.
Cygnus is an expendable American cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation but manufactured and launched by Northrop Grumman Space Systems as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. It is usually launched by Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility, although three flights were on ULA's Atlas V and three are planned for SpaceX's Falcon 9, in both cases launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It transports supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle. Since August 2000, ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by the Russian Progress spacecraft, as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.
A space tug is a type of spacecraft used to transfer spaceborne cargo from one orbit to another orbit with different energy characteristics. The term can include expendable upper stages or spacecraft that are not necessarily a part of their launch vehicle. However, it can also refer to a spacecraft that transports payload already in space to another location in outer space, such as in the Space Transportation System concept. An example would be moving a spacecraft from a low Earth orbit (LEO) to a higher-energy orbit like a geostationary transfer orbit, a lunar transfer, or an escape trajectory.
Artemis 3 is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. Artemis 3 is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. In December 2023, the Government Accountability Office reported that the mission is not likely to occur before 2027; as of January 2024, NASA officially expects Artemis 3 to launch no earlier than September 2026.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which Artemis program participants plan to assemble in an orbit near the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
In orbital mechanics a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is a halo orbit that passes close to the smaller of two bodies and has nearly stable behavior. The CAPSTONE mission, launched in 2022, is the first spacecraft to use such orbit in cislunar space, and this Moon-centric orbit is planned as a staging area for future lunar missions. In contrast with low lunar orbit which NASA characterizes as being deep in the lunar gravity well, NRHO is described as being "balanced on the edge" of the gravity well.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program that is led by the United States' NASA and was formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Artemis 4 is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission will include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, will send an Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station, install a new module on the Gateway, and conduct the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.
Artemis 5 is the fifth planned mission of NASA's Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Blue Moon lander. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion to the Lunar Gateway and will be the third lunar landing of the Artemis program. In addition, Artemis V will also deliver two new elements to the Gateway Space Station.
HERACLES is a planned robotic transport system to and from the Moon by Europe (ESA), Japan (JAXA) and Canada (CSA) that will feature a lander called the European Large Logistic Lander, a Lunar Ascent Element, and a rover. The lander can be configured for different operations such as up to 1.5 tons of cargo delivery, sample-returns, or prospecting resources found on the Moon.
CAPSTONE is a lunar orbiter that is testing and verifying the calculated orbital stability planned for the Lunar Gateway space station. The spacecraft is a 12-unit CubeSat that is also testing a navigation system that is measuring its position relative to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) without relying on ground stations. It was launched on 28 June 2022, arrived in lunar orbit on 14 November 2022, and was scheduled to orbit for six months. On 18 May 2023, it completed its primary mission to orbit in the near-rectilinear halo orbit for six months, but will stay on this orbit, continuing to perform experiments during an enhanced mission phase.
The Gateway Logistics Services will be a series of uncrewed spaceflights to the Lunar Gateway space station, with the purpose of providing logistical services to the Gateway. Overseen by NASA's Gateway Logistics Element, the flights will be operated by commercial providers, contracted by the agency in support of crewed expeditions to the Gateway made under the Artemis program. As of March 2023, SpaceX is the only company contracted to provide the services.
Starship HLS is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract to NASA as a critical element of NASA's Artemis program to land a crew on the Moon.
The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), previously known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle propulsion system, is a planned solar electric ion propulsion module being developed by Maxar Technologies for NASA. It is one of the major components of the Lunar Gateway. The PPE will allow access to the entire lunar surface and a wide range of lunar orbits and double as a space tug for visiting craft.
The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), also called the Minimal Habitation Module (MHM) and formerly known as the Utilization Module, is a scaled-down habitation module as part of the Lunar Gateway. It will be built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. A single Falcon Heavy will launch HALO along with the PPE module and Halo Lunar Communication System, no earlier than 2025.
The International Habitation Module, International Habitat or I-HAB is designed as a habitat module of the Lunar Gateway station, to be built by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. The I-HAB will have a maximum launch mass of 10,000 kg (22,000 lb) and provide a habitable volume of 10 m3 (350 cu ft).
This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the year 2028.