Lunar Gateway

The Lunar Gateway was a planned space station that would have been built in orbit around the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Work on it began in 2017 and continued until 2026, when NASA decided to focus instead on creating a base on the lunar surface. The parts meant for Gateway will now be used for other space projects.

Many countries worked together on this project. These included the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates.

One reason for building Gateway was that the Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts, could not leave its orbit around the Moon on its own. By placing Gateway in a special path called a near-rectilinear halo orbit, it would have needed less fuel to stay in place. Gateway would have helped Orion meet lunar landers, move crews, and support both people and robots on the Moon. It would have been the first space station beyond low Earth orbit and could have helped prepare for future trips to Mars.

Overview

The Gateway was planned to be an important part of the Artemis program starting in the late 2020s. It would have helped connect spacecraft like the Orion and lunar landers such as Starship HLS. It would also support missions to the lunar south polar region and serve as a place for astronauts to prepare for trips to the Moon.

Scientists wanted to use the Gateway to study many things, including planetary science, astrophysics, Earth observation, space biology, heliophysics, and how human health changes in space. Building the Gateway started in the early 2020s with parts like the Power and Propulsion Element and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost. These pieces were supposed to launch together on a Falcon Heavy rocket, but the Gateway project was later canceled. The first astronauts were expected to visit during Artemis IV, which was set to launch after September 2028.

Name

The space station was first called the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) when it was announced in 2017. In 2019, NASA changed its name to Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G), and later that year, it was officially named Gateway. The station's logo was designed to look like the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

History

Background

The Apollo Command and Service Module was the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon and connect with another spacecraft, the Apollo Lunar Module. People have always dreamed of building bases on the Moon, starting with the first landing spot called Tranquility Base.

Studies

In 2012, NASA shared ideas for a space station near the Moon called the Deep Space Habitat. This idea led to studies in 2015. In February 2018, these studies helped plan the Gateway's living space. The Gateway’s solar electric Power and Propulsion Element was part of a mission that was later canceled called the Asteroid Redirect Mission.

In November 2017, NASA asked scientists around the world to share ideas for research using the Gateway. A meeting happened in Denver, Colorado, from February 27 to March 1, 2018, where many ideas were shared.

In 2018, NASA started a competition for students to create ideas for the Gateway. The winning idea came from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.

On May 2, 2018, NASA said the Gateway was important for exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond the Solar System.

International participants

In September 2017, NASA and Russia talked about working together. But by January 2021, Russia decided not to join. Before this change, agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates planned to help with the Gateway, bringing tools and parts to help explore the Moon.

Power and propulsion

Main article: Power and Propulsion Element

In November 2017, NASA asked five companies to find affordable ways to build the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). In 2019, Maxar Technologies got the job to build it. The PPE was supposed to work for about 15 years.

Cancellation

In May 2025, a budget plan suggested stopping the Lunar Gateway because of cost and new goals, but later allowed some money for it. By March 2026, NASA decided to stop working on the Gateway as planned and focus on building a base on the Moon instead, using parts from the Gateway if possible. NASA also plans to use the PPE for a new spacecraft called Space Reactor-1 Freedom.

Orbit and operations

The Gateway was planned to orbit the Moon in a special path called a near-rectilinear halo orbit. This path would bring the station very close to the Moon's north pole and then far away from the south pole, completing one loop every seven days.

It would have been the first space station that people could visit and that could run on its own most of the time. This was possible because of advanced control software. The Gateway might have also helped test using resources from the Moon and asteroids for future space missions.

Modules

The Lunar Gateway was a space station planned to orbit the Moon as part of the Artemis program. It would have been built from several different modules.

The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) was meant to provide solar power and move the station using special engines called ion thrusters. It would also help visiting spacecraft travel.

The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) was designed to be a living space for up to four astronauts for at least 30 days. It would also control the station and let spacecraft dock.

Other planned modules included ESPRIT, which would have provided extra fuel and communications tools, and I-HAB, which would have given more space for astronauts to live and work. There was also a robotic system called Canadarm3 to help with repairs and assembly. Finally, the Crew and Science Airlock Module would have let astronauts leave the station and deploy scientific tools outside.

Criticism

NASA promoted the Gateway as a "reusable command module" to help direct activities on the Moon. However, many people criticized this idea.

Some former NASA workers shared their concerns. One former administrator thought the Gateway would only be useful after there were facilities on the Moon to produce fuel. He believed it would then act like a fuel station. He also worried that using the Gateway would make it risky to leave astronauts on the Moon or in orbit for too long.

Another former worker suggested skipping the Gateway, using another rocket to launch lunar landers, and launching any needed extra parts on a commercial rocket instead.

A former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center compared building the Gateway to building a space station to orbit the Moon itself, saying we should go directly to the Moon instead.

An former astronaut who lived on the International Space Station for 200 days criticized the Gateway, saying it would hold back space exploration rather than help it. He also pointed out that NASA was planning to mix crew and cargo trips again, which they had stopped doing after a tragic accident involving the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

The astronaut from Apollo 11 also did not support the Gateway, calling it absurd to send crews to a point in space to pick up a lander before going to the Moon. He preferred a plan called Moon Direct, where landers would travel straight from Earth’s orbit to the Moon and back.

One former director thought NASA had too many projects already and might need to cut some, including possibly the Gateway, to focus better on its goals.

Other experts also shared their opinions. A geologist called the Gateway a waste of money. The founder of the Mars Society said NASA did not need a station around the Moon to go to the Moon, Mars, or asteroids, and that building a base on the Moon’s surface would be better.

An aerospace engineer said the Gateway would not help with returning to the Moon or building a lunar base, and that stopping there would use up fuel without any benefit.

An astrophysicist wrote that orbiting the Moon would not help science much more than orbiting Earth, and that the Gateway would spend a lot of money without real benefits.

A space editor said the Gateway made NASA’s plans more expensive and complicated, and suggested canceling it to simplify things. He also proposed canceling another part of the plan and using a different rocket part instead.

A writer for a newspaper said the Gateway would not help get back to the Moon, noting that NASA did not use a lunar orbiting station during the Apollo missions. He suggested a reusable lunar lander could be refueled from the Moon’s surface instead.

NASA responded to these criticisms. The Administrator said that while some people wanted to reach the Moon quickly, NASA was following its plans to build a sustainable, reusable system. He emphasized working with international partners.

The program manager for the Gateway said it would allow longer missions, provide research opportunities, reduce risks, and let them reuse parts of the lunar lander. He explained that with the Gateway, they could extend missions from 30 days to 60 days, which would help with research and preparing for deeper space travel.

In July 2024, a report found that the Gateway had technical problems that NASA needed to solve. One issue was that the Gateway might not be able to control its position and orbit correctly when very heavy vehicles, like the lunar lander Starship, docked with it. Another problem was that some parts of the Gateway were heavier than planned, which could make it hard to reach the right orbit around the Moon. There were also defects in a network chip that could cause the Gateway’s computers to restart unexpectedly. The report also noted that the planned 15-year lifespan might be too short to support future missions to Mars.