Jane Edwards
Paragon Space Development will continue to build the life support system for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost – the first crew module of NASA’s Lunar Gateway space station – under a newly finalized contract worth more than $100 million with Northrop Grumman.
The HALO Environment Control and Life Support System will help maintain air temperature and ensure that oxygen, humidity and carbon dioxide are at safe levels within the module, Paragon said Monday.
The HALO ECLSS will provide the crew and mission control with all data needed to carry out monitoring and other operations.
Under the terms of the contract, Northrop and Paragon will work together to move the HALO ECLSS to the critical design review phase in the second quarter of 2022 and bring the HALO module to the launch site in 2024.
Northrop selected Paragon to build the life support system for the HALO lunar crew module in May 2021.
Apart from serving as a crew habitat, HALO will function as a docking platform for spacecraft that will perform routine missions to the moon as part of the Artemis program.
In July 2021, Northrop and NASA finalized a potential $935 million contract to build and integrate the HALO module with the Power and Propulsion Element from Maxar Technologies.
“HALO is vital to America’s efforts to get back to the moon and eventually to Mars. It is part of a renewed national commitment to an enduring U.S. human spaceflight program – and we are proud to be a part of the program,” said Barry Finger, vice president of engineering at Paragon.
