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March 19th, 2026
Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
Yet another wait-a-minute moment.
While it remains unclear whether or not new NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman favors putting in place a lunar Gateway, the European Space Agency has just released a schematic overview of the multi-component station.
The lunar Gateway is envisioned by advocates as the first international space station around the Moon, dedicated to supporting the most distant human space missions ever attempted.
Image credit: ESA
This outpost is to be assembled for operation around the Moon, providing a place for crew members to live and work in lunar orbit.
Gateway is to serve as a base for scientific research of the deep space environment, a host for technology development and demonstration experiments, as well as a staging post supporting exploration missions to the lunar surface and beyond.
The Gateway space station will operate in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit supporting crewed Artemis missions to the moon.
Image credit: NASA/Alberto Bertolin, Bradley Reynolds
Key elements
In addition to payloads that will fly to this new space station, the European Space Agency (ESA) is contributing three key elements to the Gateway: Lunar I-Hab, Lunar View and Lunar Link. Together, these provide a habitable space for astronauts, refueling, storage and telecommunication capabilities, and windows to view space and the Moon.
The Gateway is to be assembled this decade, built as part of the Artemis program in an international collaboration between ESA, NASA and the space agencies of Canada (CSA), Japan (JAXA) and the United Arab Emirates (MBRSC).
Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
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