Gateway, part of NASA’s Artemis program, is being developed with international partners, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The small, habitable outpost will orbit the moon, supporting crewed Artemis landings, long-duration lunar surface missions, and, in the longer term, crewed missions to Mars.
The AEPS units developed by L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne team are the most powerful electric thrusters ever built for in-space use. Each 12-kilowatt Hall-effect thruster is more than twice as powerful as existing electric propulsion systems, allowing spacecraft to reach very high speeds over time while using only a fraction of the propellant consumed by traditional chemical rockets.
“Electric propulsion is an innovative solution that will enable efficient transport of cargo and other payloads to the Moon, Mars and other destinations,” said Kristin Houston, president of Space Propulsion and Power Systems at L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne. “When coupled with a nuclear power source, AEPS also opens new manoeuvrability options for deep space spacecraft.”
The three AEPS thrusters will be integrated into the PPE, built by Maxar Technologies, which will provide Gateway with power, communications, and propulsion. Once operational, the AEPS will be responsible for delivering the PPE and attached habitation modules into a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the moon and maintaining that position over the long term.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, leads the agency’s Solar Electric Propulsion project, which is developing the AEPS technology to support Artemis missions and pave the way for future deep space exploration.
The first components of Gateway are scheduled for launch later this decade aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, with the PPE and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module flying together as the initial configuration. The station will enable more sustainable lunar exploration and provide a platform for science, technology demonstrations, and crew transfers between the moon and Earth.