Asteroid Redirect Vehicle bus The
Asteroid Redirect Vehicle was a robotic, high performance solar electric spacecraft for the
Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). The mission was to send the spacecraft to a
near-Earth asteroid and capture a multi-ton boulder from the surface with a grappling device. It would then transport the asteroid into orbit around the Moon where crewed missions to study it could be conducted more easily. The mission was cancelled in early 2017 and the spacecraft's propulsion segment became the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) for the Deep Space Gateway, now known as the Gateway.). They would also reduce the overall mission risk by enabling check-out of critical systems at Mars before the crew departs Earth. This way if something goes wrong in those logistics, the crew is not in danger and the hardware can simply be fixed or relaunched. Not only would the solar electric propulsion (SEP) technologies and designs be applied to future missions, but the ARM spacecraft would be left in a stable orbit for reuse. When the ARM was cancelled however, development on the bus and any reusable tug ideas died, temporarily. In 2018, the Gateway was split off from Artemis as a separate program to allow a Moon landing by 2024 without having to wait for the Gateway to be completed. so the Gateway is likely to incorporate components developed under NextSTEP as well.
Contract awarded In May 2019,
Lanteris Space Systems (as Maxar Technologies) was contracted by NASA to manufacture this module, which will also supply the station with electrical power and is based on Lanteris's
Lanteris 1300 series
satellite bus. The PPE will use Redwire's roll-out solar arrays for power generation,
Busek 6 kW
Hall-effect thrusters and NASA
Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) Hall-effect thrusters. Maxar was awarded a firm-fixed price contract of US$375 million to build the PPE. Maxar's SSL business unit, previously known as Space Systems/Loral, will lead the project. Maxar stated they will receive help from
Blue Origin and
Draper Laboratory on the project, with Blue Origin assisting in human-rating and safety aspect while Draper will work with trajectory and navigation development. Its expected service time is about 15 years.
Integration with HALO As originally planned, PPE would implement the passive mode
International Docking System Standard (IDSS) docking port. This meant that any spacecraft implementing active IDSS could theoretically dock to the PPE, such as
Orion,
Dragon 2,
Dream Chaser, and
Boeing Starliner. Maxar completed a
system requirements review of this design in 2019. In 2020 NASA introduced new requirements, including integration of PPE and HALO before launch. In February 2021 NASA contracted with
SpaceX for launch of the integrated elements by a
Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. In mid 2024, the HALO module reached significant completion and entered into the stress test phase in Thales Alenia's facilities. Upon successful completion of the stress tests, it is planned to be shipped to the US Northrop Grumman facilities to undergo final launch preparation and integration with the Power and Propulsion Element.
SR-1 Freedom In March 2026, NASA announced the indefinite suspension of the Gateway program. PPE was repurposed as the propulsion element of the nuclear-powered
Space Reactor‑1 Freedom spacecraft. • On November 4, 2025,
Intuitive Machines announced that it would buy Lanteris Space Systems. • In early 2026, the power systems of PPE were turned on successfully for the first time at the Lanteris Space Systems facility. == See also==