Gateway: International Habitat
The international habitat or, I-Hab for short, is one of ESA’s many contributions to the lunar Gateway – an outpost that will orbit the Moon as part of the Artemis programme.
The I-Hab is a pressurised module that will provide living quarters for astronauts visiting the Gateway, including multiple docking ports for berthing vehicles as well as other modules.
It will offer around 10 cubic meters of living space and, together with the NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost module, will provide enough room for up to four astronauts to stay for up to 90 days at a time.
The habitat will offer space and amenities to run experiments, both inside and outside the module. I-Hab’s exterior will also include attachment points for the Canadarm-3 robotic arm that will serve the Gateway.
The I-Hab project is led by ESA, who have selected Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor to develop the module. The project also contains contributions from the other Gateway partners; Japan’s space agency, JAXA, for example, is providing the Environmental Control Support System, as well as other equipment such as thermal cooling pumps and batteries.
I-Hab will be made lighter than International Space Station structures, with enhanced docking systems and hatches and more efficient thermal control. It will provide good protection against micrometeorites, as well as deep-space radiation.
To evaluate their designs, Thales Alenia Space is combining virtual reality with ESA astronauts’ expertise to fine-tune the module’s layout and functions.
In terms of computer control, the I-Hab will be a next-generation leap compared to the International Space Station, offering more control from Earth as well as failure tolerant and time critical data exchange at high speeds.
Gateway activities started with Phase B2 in April 2020, and the Preliminary Design Review was completed in November 2021. Development is now in the critical design phase.
Launch:
- Artemis IV
Size:
- Pressurised volume: 36 m3
- Habitable volume: 10 m3
Structure: Aluminium
Maximum launch mass: 10 000 kg
Thermal control system:
- Active and passive with heat dissipated through deployable radiator wings
- Radiator wing surface: two wings made of four panels each, each panel is 4 m2
- Heating: electric heaters with 100 heater lines controlled through 400 temperature sensors
Avionics and flight software:
- Integrated Modular Avionics with four mutually redundant On-Board Flight Computers
- Two failure-tolerant data network backbones
- Time Triggered Ethernet (IP Best Effort and Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet, AFDX or ARINC 664)
- Built on top of the VxWorks operating system
Electrical Power System:
- Powered through the Gateway’s Power Propulsion Element
- Four power lines
- Two batteries store power
- Can interface with and receive power from other vehicles such as Orion and modules
Crew Systems:
- Galley for warming food and dining
- Personal Crew Compartments providing private area for sleeping
Crew Health Performance Subsystem:
- Environmental monitoring (acoustic, radiation, chemical hazards)
- Exercise area
- Medical care
Docking ports:
- Two axial ports for attachment to the Gateway
- Two ports radially for vehicles