NASA Selects SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Power New Gateway Lunar Space Station

SpaceX is known for its spectacular launches and landings, and now he’s landed another very important NASA launch contract. The agency has chosen Elon Musk’s rocket company to send the initial components of its long-awaited lunar gateway into space.

The gateway is designed as humanity’s first long-term outpost on the moon, a kind of mini space station. But unlike the International Space Station which circles our planet in relatively low orbit, the gateway will be orbiting the moon. It will support upcoming astronaut missions as part of NASA Artemis Mission return to the lunar surface and establish a permanent presence there.

Specifically, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket system will launch the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Housing and Logistics Outpost (HALO), which are key elements of the gateway.

The HALO is the pressurized living area that will welcome visiting astronauts. PPE is like the engine and the systems that make everything work. NASA describes it as “a 60 kilowatt class solar electric powered spacecraft that will also provide power, high speed communications, attitude control and the ability to move the gateway to different lunar orbits.”

The Falcon Heavy is SpaceX’s heavy configuration, consisting of three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together, topped with a second stage and payload.

Since its inception in 2018, the facelift Elon Musk’s Tesla to Mars in a widely seen demonstration, a Falcon Heavy only flew two more times. Falcon Heavy is expected to launch a pair of military satellites later this year and also launch NASA Psyche Mission in 2022.

The Lunar Gateway PPE and HALO are currently scheduled for launch no earlier than May 2024 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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