The Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO, is designed as a place for astronauts to live, conduct science and prepare to investigate the lunar South Pole region. Gateway's mission integration and utilization manager, Stephanie Dudley, works with partner space agencies and academia to identify research opportunities there, NASA said. [S1]
NASA plans to place its Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite on HALO's exterior and the Internal Dosimeter Array inside Gateway. The European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency lead the latter. Both experiments will study solar and cosmic radiation to help researchers understand how to protect astronauts and equipment on deep-space journeys, including to Mars. [S1]
NASA said HALO and Gateway's Power and Propulsion Element would launch ahead of Artemis IV, then planned for 2028. Dudley said the station was being built for a 15-year lifespan, with the hope that it would last longer. [S1]
Source documents
- Gateway: Centering Sciencehttps://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/gateway/gateway-centering-science/