NASA Starts Up Gateway’s Power System for First Time

Development continues on NASA’s Power and Propulsion Element, a solar electric propulsion spacecraft designed to provide power for Gateway in lunar orbit.

Able to generate 60 kilowatts of power, the element was successfully powered on earlier last year. The milestone demonstrates the element can provide the spacecraft with power, high-rate communications, attitude control, as well as the ability to maintain and maneuver between orbits.

The Power and Propulsion Element is managed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and built by industry partner Lanteris Space Systems in Palo Alto, California, where teams have secured the element’s main electrical system inside protective exterior panels. On deck for installation at Lanteris Space Systems are three 12-kilowatt advanced electric propulsion system thrusters, manufactured by L3Harris, and four 6-kilowatt Busek-built BHT-6000 thrusters. The roll-out solar arrays for Gateway are complete and moving through testing at Redwire’s facility in Goleta, California.

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