NASA's Moon Station Gets Football-Sized Solar Blankets

In two years, a space station could be orbiting the moon, powered by solar blankets that roll out like futuristic rugs.

NASA's Gateway Lunar Space Station is set to launch as early as 2027 to support missions back to the moon and eventually to Mars. But before astronauts can use it as a jumping-off point for deep space exploration, the station needs a powerful energy source that can survive the journey into orbit.

Space company Redwire solved that challenge with Roll-Out Solar Arrays, or ROSAs. Each array is roughly the size of a football end zone, but they'll launch rolled up tight to fit inside a rocket's nose cone. Together, the two panels will generate 60 kilowatts of continuous power, enough to run about 50 American homes around the clock.

The genius is in the simplicity. When the arrays reach the Gateway, they won't need electric motors or complex machinery to deploy. A flexible boom simply guides them as they unspool naturally in the vacuum of space.

"When the arrays get to the Gateway, they'll be attached and then roll out," says Mike Gold, Redwire's president of civil and international space business and a NASA veteran. The company used technology originally developed by its subsidiary Deployable Space Solutions.

Redwire successfully tested the panels' rollout capabilities in July. Now they're being handed off to space tech company Lanteris for prelaunch testing. Lanteris is building the Gateway's entire power and propulsion element that will keep the lunar station operational.

Why This Inspires

This isn't just about clever engineering. Gateway represents humanity's next giant leap, a permanent foothold beyond Earth that could one day support a lunar colony. The station will serve as home base for Artemis IV and V missions, bringing humans back to the moon's surface for the first time in over 50 years.

These rollable solar panels prove that innovation often comes from rethinking the basics. By making power generation compact and self-deploying, Redwire cleared one of the biggest hurdles to sustained lunar exploration.

The technology could also transform how we power satellites and future space stations. What works on the Gateway could eventually light up habitats on Mars or mining operations on asteroids.

Gateway is happening, and it's bringing us one step closer to becoming a truly spacefaring species.