UAE hires Thales-Alenia to build its airlock for Lunar Gateway
The European space company Thales-Alenia today announced that it won the contract from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build its airlock for Lunar Gateway.
It was expected, that after the UAE signed its agreement with NASA in early January to build this airlock in exchange for one astronaut flight to Lunar Gateway, that it would also have to hire someone to build it since that country does not have the capability. Initial reports suggested it was negotiating with Boeing to build the airlock, but not surprisingly the UAE ended up going elsewhere, considering Boeing’s present troubles. Either the UAE decided Boeing was too great a risk and too expensive, or Boeing’s new upper management decided to beg off.
As noted here, Thales Alenia now has contracts to build four major components of Lunar Gateway: the hull of NASA’s habitation module, Europe’s habitation module, the refueling/telecommunications module, and now the airlock. While the graphic below shows that other Gateway components are being built by others, the graphic also shows that NASA has past off many modules to other countries. These deals could make it easier politically for the Trump administration to cancel Lunar Gateway. Thales-Alenia’s dominant position in building the station in Europe would make transferring ownership to Europe simpler, with U.S. participation secondary. The European Space Agency for example could pick up the cost for the modules being built by SpaceX and others.
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The European space company Thales-Alenia today announced that it won the contract from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to build its airlock for Lunar Gateway.
It was expected, that after the UAE signed its agreement with NASA in early January to build this airlock in exchange for one astronaut flight to Lunar Gateway, that it would also have to hire someone to build it since that country does not have the capability. Initial reports suggested it was negotiating with Boeing to build the airlock, but not surprisingly the UAE ended up going elsewhere, considering Boeing’s present troubles. Either the UAE decided Boeing was too great a risk and too expensive, or Boeing’s new upper management decided to beg off.
As noted here, Thales Alenia now has contracts to build four major components of Lunar Gateway: the hull of NASA’s habitation module, Europe’s habitation module, the refueling/telecommunications module, and now the airlock. While the graphic below shows that other Gateway components are being built by others, the graphic also shows that NASA has past off many modules to other countries. These deals could make it easier politically for the Trump administration to cancel Lunar Gateway. Thales-Alenia’s dominant position in building the station in Europe would make transferring ownership to Europe simpler, with U.S. participation secondary. The European Space Agency for example could pick up the cost for the modules being built by SpaceX and others.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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It might. But if so, the irony is, NASA’s aggressive pursuit of ESA, JAXA (and, now, UAE!) involvement over the last several years was clearly intended to provide political *protection* for Gateway, and by extension, the Artemis program generally!
But even if the Trump Administration could somehow execute a face-saving gesture for the partners in question by transferring ownership of these modules to the ESA, I have to wonder a) if ESA could actually follow through on deploying it, and b) if they did so, just what the heck they would *do* with it. Stick it in LEO for use as a man-tended platform? I mean, it’s not like they have any ability to visit it with crew or even cargo in *lunar* orbit. And obviously, a retooled Artemis program that dispenses with SLS and Orion in favor of commercial capabilities provided by the likes of SpaceX and Blue Origin is not going to have any need for the Rube Goldberg architecture that revolves around using the Lunar Gateway. You could use it as a strong comms relay for lunar surface missions, I guess, but at a price tag sledding past $5 billion for just the PPE/HALO base module alone, it would be the most expensive communications array ever deployed in human history….
Whatever happens, I figure it will be entertaining to watch!
Richard M: I wonder if ESA, which is partnering heavily with the Voyager Space station, would be able to repurpose Gateway modules for that station. If so, the cost of development might go down signficantly, especially if NASA gives that project a sweet deal.
Good thing Gwynne Shotwell smacked some sense into Elon when he decided to cancel the Falcon Heavy, huh?!
R.V. Dune – Who knows? Absent Artemis, it might have motivated NASA to build a fire under the FAA.
Robert wrote: “Either the UAE decided Boeing was too great a risk and too expensive, or Boeing’s new upper management decided to beg off.”
I see a third possibility. The last I heard, NASA is not taking bids from Boeing for space work. If this remains the case, then NASA may not have wanted to depend upon a Boeing assembly to be part of the Artemis program. Perhaps NASA made the decision to not go with Boeing.
Edward: Your third option is most likely the right one. UAE might have begun negotiations with Boeing, but I bet NASA stepped in and told them to find someone else.
Hello Bob,
I thought of your reply to me in this comment thread this morning when I got my latest Europe in Space substack installment in my Inbox.
Andrew Parsonson is thinking through this very possibility. Excerpt:
There is a lot more discussion at the link, including, it must be said, some sharp comments of resentment of the Trump Administration and exploration of the possibility of Europe more generally forging a more independent course in space from the United States:
https://europeanspaceflight.substack.com/p/does-europe-have-an-off-ramp-from?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1010910&post_id=156655638&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=mwvtz&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Oddly, Parsonson does not discuss the implications of any of this for Starlab, which seems to be the platform ESA is most invested in right now for its post-ISS LEO plans.
Richard M: That this discussion is going on tells us that people are now realizing that major changes in Artemis are looming. People are preparing.
All good, to my way of thinking.
Hello Bob,
It may be happening even sooner than we thought!
Boeing warns SLS employees of potential layoffs
by Jeff Foust | February 7, 2025
https://spacenews.com/boeing-warns-sls-employees-of-potential-layoffs/
Boeing has informed its employees that NASA may cancel SLS contracts
The White House has not made a final decision yet on the large rocket.
Eric Berger | Feb 7, 2025 5:07 PM
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/boeing-has-informed-its-employees-that-nasa-may-cancel-sls-contracts/