NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland leads the agency’s partnership with Maxar Technologies to design and build PPE, developing next-generation technology and capabilities to enable Artemis missions and prepare for human missions to Mars.
How does PPE work?
- PPE will generate 60kW of electrical power, which will power Gateway’s subsystems and its solar electric propulsion (SEP) system to keep the station in orbit around the Moon. PPE leverages technology advancements from past successful electric propulsion missions – such as the recent DART mission – to help NASA push the boundaries of what’s possible in deep space.
- PPE’s SEP system provides greater fuel economy, enabling lower-cost missions that can carry more cargo. This is because the spacecraft’s propellent mass can be reduced up to 90% by being augmented with energy from the Sun.
- Once deployed, PPE’s two large, yoga-mat-like roll-out solar arrays – which are approximately the size of a football field’s endzone – will generate power to ionize and accelerate Xenon gas, using a tenth of the propellant required by conventional chemical propulsion systems.
- As the powerhouse of Gateway, the PPE will provide capabilities for high-rate communications between the station, the lunar surface, and Earth.
PPE is just one element of Gateway, but it is foundational. To form the initial Gateway space station, PPE will be integrated with Gateway’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, where astronauts will live, work, and prepare for lunar surface missions. PPE and HALO will be joined together at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, launched on a