Gateway manufacturer finally acknowledges issue, fails to mention "corrosion"
One of the more intriguing space stories in a while broke last week when NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a congressional hearing that the two habitation modules built for the Lunar Gateway had been corroded. The immediate response to these comments on Wednesday before a House committee from some space industry observers was doubt—Isaacman, they said , must be lying . However, the primary contractor for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, Northrop Grumman, soon acknowledged there was a manufacturing irregularity . On Friday the European Space Agency, providing the other habitation module (I-HAB), acknowledged that there had been "corrosion" observed. Read full article Comments
One of the more intriguing space stories in a while broke last week when NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said during a congressional hearing that the two habitation modules built for the Lunar Gateway had been corroded.
The immediate response to these comments on Wednesday before a House committee from some space industry observers was doubt—Isaacman, they said , must be lying .
“At this time, further comments would be premature.”
The pressure vessel structures for both modules were manufactured by a French-Italian firm, Thales Alenia Space. On Friday, Axiom Space, which also ordered a pressurized structure for its private space station from Thales, told Ars it had experienced “similar” issues with its Module 1.
Thales had remained mum about these various issues and did not offer a comment until Monday morning, nearly five days after Isaacman’s testimony. The company’s statement, in full, reads:
