From Turin to the Moon, going through Cabo Cañaveral: a new stage of the space adventure begins. In the facilities of Thales Alenia Space Italy, leader in Aerospace Engineering, the Halo (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) was presented in Turin yesterday, the first core of Gateway, the future space station that will orbit the moon as a key platform for the Artemis missions NASA. The act, loaded with technical and diplomatic symbolism, brought together representatives of space agencies, including the European Space Agency (ESA), engineers and international media.
The Halo module is ready to leave for the United States at the end of March, where Northrop Grumman will complete the interior conditioning. The launch is scheduled for the end of 2027, in Cabo Cañaveral, from the 39B platform of the Kennedy Space Center, for a Falcon Heavy rocket of Spacex. With it the PPE module will be launched and coupled, which provides power (ionic propulsion) and energy, equipped with solar panels.
Halo is the first of a series of modules (seven in total) that will form the first advanced place in history destined to orbit the moon, revolving around it at a minimum distance of 3,000 kilometers and a maximum of 70,000, in order to Minimize eclipses, during which contact with the earth is lost. Inside the Halo module of the Gateway Space Station, astronauts destined for lunar missions can be lived and working. His planned useful life is 15 years and all other components of the Gateway will be united to him. For Jon Olansen, head of the NASA Gateway program, who participated in the Turin, Halo event and the future space station in lunar orbit are destined to become the advanced spatial exploration, in particular the missions aimed at Mars .
Halo, a pressurized module of 12 tons and 55 cubic meters of habitable space, has been assembled in Turin by Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (France) and Leonardo (Italy). Its design is based on the Cygnus load ship, used to supply the International Space Station (ISS), but adapted to the rigors of the lunar environment: intense radiation, extreme temperatures and intermittent communications. Equipped with life support systems, coupling points and solar panels, Halo will serve as a bedroom, laboratory and logistics center for crews of up to four astronauts during one month missions. Halo is, therefore, the first part of what will be the Lunar Gateway platform, which will be composed in 2028 by 7 modules, 4 of them habitable, plus a robotic arm, it will have 124 cubic meters of habitable volume for 4 astronauts. And it is from here that the astronauts of the Artemis program will stop once they arrive from the earth, and then descend to the lunar surface with the Spacex Starship spacecraft.
Fundamental pillar
“Today we present a symbol of what international collaboration can achieve,” said Giampiero Di Paolo, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italy, during the ceremony. For Jon Olansen, responsible for the NASA Gateway program, the Lunar Space Station represents “a fundamental pillar for future space exploration, with the aim of facilitating the first human missions to Mars.”
The astronaut of that Matthias Maurer was enthusiastic about the future of the project: «I imagine future colleagues preparing here to descend to the moon. Gateway is not an end, but a bridge towards the unknown ». The Italian engineer Sara Pastor, responsible for the Lunar Group of the European Space Agency (ESA), reflected on the global impact of this project: «Lunar Gateway is an international effort in which Europe plays a fundamental role. The technologies that we are developing will not only benefit astronauts, but will also have applications in other sectors such as telecommunications, medicine and energy. This is an effort that will benefit all humanity, ”said Sara Pastor.
The NASA calendar
The presentation was made in Turin because the capital of the region is no stranger to space adventure. “We are the Silicon Valley of space habitability,” summarized Raffaele Mugnuolo, of the Italian Space Agency, citing contracts for 2,300 million euros in the last decade. A success promoted by synergy among giants such as the multinational Leonardo, technological SMEs and universities. In addition to Halo, the Italian industry is also very involved in the development of other habitable modules of the Gateway station, such as the I-HAB (International Habitation Module), which is part of the great European contribution to the lunar station, as well as Esprit , the module that will act as a warehouse for the advanced lunar position and that, therefore, will also be habitable.
To all this is added the Airlock module, which will allow outflows, “space walks”, which will also be built in Turin after the recent agreement with United Arab Emirates for its development. The Italian space agency is also involved in the development of MPH, known as the “lunar shelter”, where astronauts can find a place to sleep or cook during their explorations on the surface that, unlike those of Apollo, which lasted a Maximum of 3 days, they will have to last up to 20-30 days.
The first lunar landing mission of the Artemis program is scheduled for mid -2027, and will still not use the Gateway station. That will happen in 2028 with Artemis 4. That year, with the launch of the I-Hab module, the station will have reached its complete habitable volume. However, NASA has already announced a year of delay in Artemis 2, the following mission to NASA’s moon, which will be launched, if everything goes as planned, in September 2026.
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