NASA selected SpaceX to deliver the first two segments of the lunar orbit Lunar Gateway space station on Wednesday, the second sensational contract awarded by the government agency to the private aviation manufacturer this week.
During the newly announced flight, which is currently expected to take place “no earlier than” May 2024, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket will introduce the first two elements of the planned outpost as one integrated payload that will include Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and its Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO).
The Gateway space station, which will be about one-sixth of the International Space Station, is planned as an extension of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to “support research surveys, crew and lunar surface expeditions.” .
Although NASA originally planned to launch the PPE and HALO segments separately on two different rockets, the agency’s inspector general wrote in a report released last year that they had decided to launch the two segments together in an effort to save costs. Although it was initially concerned that the combined payload might be too heavy for the commercially available rockets, a NASA spokesman confirmed that The edge that Falcon Heavy met all of the agency’s performance requirements.
This mission is to believe set to costs NASA $ 331.8 million – more than three times the price of a separate contract the agency awarded to SpaceX earlier this week start its SPHEREx astrophysics mission.
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Once the Gateway is established, a service module with key life support elements – including oxygen, control of water, electricity and temperature – will during NASA’s second planned flight of its new mega rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). That mission, known as Artemis 2 will be the first mission under the Artemis programs.