NASA has reportedly asked Northrop Grumman to cease work on HALO, the habitation module intended for the Lunar Gateway space station. This news, published by Ars Technica and not yet officially confirmed by the Agency, seems to be a further sign of the progressive abandonment of the Lunar Gateway project, following a change in strategy announced by NASA in recent months.
On March 24, during the Ignition event, the Agency had presented a revision of its plans for lunar exploration under the Artemis program, shifting its focus from establishing a station in orbit around the Moon – the Lunar Gateway – to developing infrastructure directly on the lunar surface to build a permanent lunar base.
At that time, NASA announced its intention to suspend work on the Gateway and to repurpose the Power and Propulsion Element, one of the two main components already in advanced development, for a future demonstration of nuclear-electric propulsion in deep space, the SR-1 Freedom mission.
The fate of HALO, the pressurized module that, in the original plans, would have been the first module capable of housing astronauts during lunar orbit stays, was less clear. Now, according to several sources cited by Ars Technica, this element has also reportedly been halted. If confirmed, this decision would effectively mark the end of the Gateway in the form it was designed in recent years.
HALO’s Role in the Gateway Project
HALO, an acronym for Habitation and Logistics Outpost, was one of the central components of the Lunar Gateway. The module, approximately six meters long, was designed to provide habitable space for visiting crews and to serve as a logistics hub for lunar orbit operations.
For its development, NASA had awarded contracts to Northrop Grumman totaling approximately $1.1 billion. Among the companies involved in the program is Thales Alenia Space Italia, responsible for the construction of the module’s pressurized structure in Turin. This represents one of the first significant Italian industrial contributions to the Gateway program, alongside the Lunar I-Hab habitation module developed by ESA and JAXA, for which Thales Alenia Space Italia is the prime contractor. HALO was slated to be sent to America in the spring of 2025.
Other companies were also involved in HALO’s development. Among them is Paragon Space Development Corporation, tasked with creating the module’s life support system.
It is precisely Paragon that was reportedly informed of the work suspension in recent days. However, neither Northrop Grumman nor NASA has officially confirmed the existence of a stop-work order. The company stated that HALO could still be reused for other lunar or deep space missions and that it will continue to collaborate with NASA to evaluate possible future uses of the module.
A New Strategy for Human Presence on the Moon
The reasons for the suspension have not been made public. A possible explanation is that the module no longer fits the needs of the new lunar architecture being defined. Once completed, HALO would have had a mass between 8 and 9 tons, making its transport to the lunar surface complex, especially considering the need for further upgrade work to adapt it to the surface.
In recent months, NASA has in fact begun to favor a more gradual approach to building a permanent presence on the Moon, with infrastructure developed directly on the ground rather than in orbit. A large module like HALO, designed to operate in cislunar space, might therefore no longer represent a priority.
