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This paper describes the performance benefits and current technology progress of an active heat pump loop (HPL) thermal control bus for spacecraft and planetary thermal control applications. Having initiated this research more than 14 years ago, this paper also briefly highlights the technical developments and obstacles overcome during this 14-year development. This paper discusses the unique features of the HPL approach that make it an attractive design choice for future manned thermal control applications: the use of an heat pump to reject heat to space at a temperature above the heat acquisition temperature, the use of non-toxic thermally stable working fluids, and the use of high-performance lubrication-free (gravity independent) refrigeration compressors. The HPL approach has the performance benefits of a traditional two-phase pumped loop thermal bus coupled with the simplicity of a single-phase pumped loop.