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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Gateway’s HALO module at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona, on April 4, 2025, shortly after its arrival from Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. NASA/Josh Valcarcel NASA continues to mark progress on plans to work with commercial and international partners as part of the Gateway program. The primary structure of HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) arrived at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona, where it will undergo final outfitting and verification testing.
HALO will provide Artemis astronauts with space to live, work, and conduct scientific research. The habitation module will be equipped with essential systems including command and control, data handling, energy storage, power distribution, and thermal regulation.
Following HALO’s arrival on April 1 from Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, where it was assembled, NASA and Northrop Grumman hosted an April 24 event to acknowledge the milestone, and the module’s significance to lunar exploration. The event opened with remarks by representatives from Northrop Grumman and NASA, including NASA’s Acting Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development Lori Glaze, Gateway Program Manager Jon Olansen, and NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik. Event attendees, including Senior Advisor to the NASA Administrator Todd Ericson, elected officials, and local industry and academic leaders, viewed HALO and virtual reality demonstrations during a tour of the facilities.
Dr. Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, and Dr. Jon B. Olansen, Gateway Program manager, on stage during an April 24, 2025, event at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona, commemorating HALO’s arrival in the United States. Northrop Grumman While the module is in Arizona, HALO engineers and technicians will install propellant lines for fluid transfer and electrical lines for power and data transfer. Radiators will be attached for the thermal control system, as well as racks to house life support hardware, power equipment, flight computers, and avionics systems. Several mechanisms will be mounted to enable docking of the Orion spacecraft, lunar landers, and visiting spacecraft.
Launching on top of HALO is the ESA (European Space Agency)-provided Lunar Link system which will enable communication between crewed and robotic systems on the Moon and to mission control on Earth. Once these systems are installed, the components will be tested as an integrated spacecraft and subjected to thermal vacuum, acoustics, vibration, and shock testing to ensure the spacecraft is ready to perform in the harsh conditions of deep space.
In tandem with HALO’s outfitting at Northrop Grumman, the Power and Propulsion Element – a powerful solar electric propulsion system – is being assembled at Maxar Space Systems in Palo Alto, California. Solar electric propulsion uses energy collected from solar panels converted to electricity to create xenon ions, then accelerates them to more than 50,000 miles per hour to create thrust that propels the spacecraft.
The element’s central cylinder, which resembles a large barrel, is being attached to the propulsion tanks, and avionics shelves are being installed. The first of three 12-kilowatt thrusters has been delivered to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland for acceptance testing before delivery to Maxar and integration with the Power and Propulsion Element later this year.
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Last Updated Apr 25, 2025 ContactLaura RochonLocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
Artemis Artemis 4 Earth's Moon Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Gateway Space Station General Humans in Space Explore More
2 min read NASA Welcomes Gateway Lunar Space Station’s HALO Module to US
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By European Space Agency
Week in images: 21-25 April 2025
Discover our week through the lens
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By NASA
Explore This Section Earth Earth Observer Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives Conference Schedules Style Guide 2 min read
2025 EGU Hyperwall Schedule
EGU General Assembly, April 27 – May 2, 2025
Join NASA in the Exhibit Hall (Booth #204) for Hyperwall Storytelling by NASA experts. Full Hyperwall Agenda below.
MONDAY, APRIL 28
10:15 – 10:30 AM —— PACE —— Ivona Cetinic 3:45 – 4:00 PM —— Science Explorer (SciX): Accelerating the Discovery of NASA Science —— Mike Kurtz 4:00 – 4:15 PM —— Juno’s Extended Vision in its Extended Mission —— Glenn Orton 6:05 – 6:20 PM —— Getting the Big Picture with Global Precipitation —— George Huffman 6:20 – 6:35 PM —— Exploring Europa with Europa Clipper —— Jonathan Lunine TUESDAY, APRIL 29
10:15 – 10:30 AM —— Science Explorer (SciX): Accelerating the Discovery of NASA Science —— Jennifer Lynn Bartlett 10:30 – 10:45 AM —— From ESTO to PACE, A CubeSat’s Journey to Space —— Brent McBride 12:30 – 2:00 PM —— Ask Me Anything with NASA Scientists —— Informal Office Hours 3:45 – 4:00 PM —— Exoplanets (Virtual) —— Jonathan H. Jiang 4:00 – 4:15 PM —— Scattering of Realistic Hydrometeors for Precipitation Remote Sensing ——Kwo-Sen Kuo 6:05 – 6:20 PM —— Space Weather Center of Excellence CLEAR: All-CLEAR SEP Forecast —— Lulu Zhao WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30
10:15 – 10:30 AM —— SPEXone on PACE: First year in Orbit —— Otto Hasekamp 12:30 – 2:00 PM —— Ask Me Anything with NASA Scientists —— Informal Office Hours 3:45 – 4:00 PM —— Science Explorer (SciX): Accelerating the Discovery of NASA Science —— Jennifer Lynn Bartlett 4:00 – 4:15 PM —— Scattering of Realistic Hydrometeors for Precipitation Remote Sensing ——Kwo-Sen Kuo 6:05 – 6:20 PM —— Ship Tracks Tell the Story of Climate Forcing by Aerosols through Clouds —Tianle Yuan 6:20 – 6:35 PM —— The Excitement of Mars Exploration —— Jonathan Lunine 6:35 – 6:50 PM —— Using NASA Earth Observations for Disaster Response —— Kristen Okorn THURSDAY, MAY 1
10:15 – 10:30 AM —— Getting the Big Picture with Global Precipitation —— George Huffman 3:45 – 4:00 PM —— PACE —— Morgaine McKibben 4:00 – 4:15 PM —— Using AI to Model Global Clouds Better Than Current GCRMs —— Tianle Yuan 6:05 – 6:20 PM —— Science Explorer (SciX): Accelerating the Discovery of NASA Science —— Mike Kurtz Share
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Last Updated Apr 24, 2025 Related Terms
Earth Science View the full article
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By NASA
2 min read
First Results from the Eclipse Soundscapes Project: Webinar on May 7
How do the sudden darkness and temperature changes of a solar eclipse impact life on Earth? The Eclipse Soundscapes project invited you to document changes in the environment during the week of the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse, using your own senses or an audiomoth sound recorder.
Thanks to your participation, the Eclipse Soundscapes team collected 25 terabytes of audio data during the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses. “It was really empowering for me to participate in a scientific research study with my son beside me so he could see how scientific data can be (collected),” said one Eclipse Soundscapes volunteer.
More than 500 volunteers collected data using AudioMoth recorders during the April 8, 2024 eclipse for the Eclipse Soundscapes project. Credit: Eclipse Soundscapes Since the eclipse, the Eclipse Soundscapes team has been turning the submitted data into a new, carefully validated data set. They have been assessing recording quality, verifying timestamps, and logging other kinds of information that support the submitted data. With the newly validated data, they are now using machine learning to study wildlife behavior and compare regional differences. They do some of this work using spectrographic analysis—spreading out the sound into different frequency ranges like a prism spreads light into a rainbow. The team is also working to make the validated data freely available to the public on the Zenodo website—a free, open-source research data repository developed by CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) that allows researchers to share and preserve their work, regardless of discipline or format.
The team’s first inspection of the data suggests that some species may mimic dusk-like behavior during totality. Want to hear more early results? You can join the team’s live webinar on May 7, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. EST with Dr. Brent Pease. Register now at EclipseSoundscapes.org. You can also explore this interactive map of data analysis sites, with details about each site, including partner organizations.
Register for the May 7 Preliminary Results WEBINAR
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Last Updated Apr 22, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
ECF 2024 Quadchart Boles.pdf
Jessica Boles
University of California, Berkeley
This project will develop piezoelectric-based power conversion for small power systems on the lunar surface. These piezoelectric systems can potentially offer high power density to significantly reduce size, weight, and cost. They can also offer high efficiency as well as resistance to the extreme lunar environment with its expected prolonged exposure to extreme cold and radiation. The effort will build and test prototype piezoelectric DC-to-DC power converters and DC-to-DC power supplies.
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Last Updated Apr 18, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
Early Career Faculty (ECF) Space Technology Research Grants View the full article
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