NASA and Northrop Grumman conclude Moon outpost contract

Luxembourg, 13 July 2021. – The U.S. space agency NASA and Northrop Grumman of Dulles, Virginia, concluded their contract to develop the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) for the Moon gateway, NASA said.

As part of NASA’s Artemis program, HALO will be a critical way station and outpost in the orbit around the Moon.

NASA and its commercial and partners are building the gateway to support science investigations and enable surface landings at the Moon, which will help prepare astronauts for future missions to Mars.

The firm, fixed-price contract is valued at $935 million, NASA said.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will be responsible for attaching and testing the integrated HALO with the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), being built by Maxar Technologies.

Northrop Grumman will also lead the integrated PPE and HALO spacecraft turnover and launch preparation with SpaceX, and support activation and checkout of HALO during the flight to lunar orbit.

NASA is targeting November 2024 to launch the spacecraft on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.