[3][4] The PPE originally started development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a part of the now cancelled Asteroid Redirect Mission, but is now led and managed by the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center, in Cleveland, Ohio.

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.

[13][14][15][16][17][18] 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.

[25][26] On 1 November 2017, NASA commissioned 5 studies lasting four months into affordable ways to develop the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), hopefully leveraging private companies' plans.

The companies performing the PPE studies were Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada and Space Systems/Loral.

[7] NASA is supplying the PPE with a S-band communications system to provide a radio link with nearby vehicles and a passive docking adapter to receive the Gateway's future Utilization Module.

[34] This meant that any IDSS capable spacecraft could theoretically dock to the PPE, such as Orion, the International Space Station, Dragon 2, Dream Chaser, and Boeing Starliner.

[36] 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.