The Orion spacecraft, with the European service module built by Airbus, ready for launch – Aerospace News – Aerospace News

NASA’s Orion spacecraft with the European Service Module (ESM), built by Airbus, is ready for launch. The spacecraft will launch in a few days from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on its mission to the Moon. The ESM will propel Orion to and from its lunar orbit as part of NASA’s Artemis missions. Airbus has developed the ESM as prime contractor for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is designing and manufacturing a further five ESMs. The ESM is a key element of Orion, the next-generation spacecraft that will carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo program ended in the 1970s. The module provides propulsion, power and regulation and will supply water and oxygen to astronauts on future missions. The ESM is installed below the crew module. Together, the two form the Orion spacecraft. “The launch of NASA’s Orion spacecraft with the ESM has historic significance 50 years after the last astronaut lunar mission and is another important step in returning astronauts to the Moon. The program is now moving forward and we are ready to return to the lunar surface in 2025, together with our customers ESA and NASA and our industrial partner Lockheed Martin Space,” said Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Space Systems at Airbus. The launch of the first Orion spacecraft using NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will be uncrewed and will take Orion more than 70,000 kilometers beyond the Moon to demonstrate its capabilities. Artemis II, planned for around 2024 and powered by ESM-2, will carry four astronauts into space and return them safely to Earth. Then a year later, ESM-3 will make sure another Orion capsule safely brings the first woman to the Moon. The technologies developed and the experience gathered during the Artemis Missions will be critical for possible future long-term missions to Mars, for example. The ESM consists of more than 20,000 parts and components, from electrical equipment to thrusters, solar panels, fuel tanks, life support materials, and several miles of cables and hoses. The ESM is a cylinder about four meters tall and wide. It is similar to the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV 2008-2015), also built by Airbus, and features the characteristic four-blade solar array (19 meters in diameter when unfolded), which generates enough power for two homes. The service module’s 8.6 tons of propellant drives the main engine, eight auxiliary engines and 24 smaller thrusters ensure navigation and attitude control. At launch, the ESM weighs just over 13 tons. In addition to serving as the main propulsion system for the Orion spacecraft, the ESM will enable orbital maneuvering and attitude control. It will provide the crew with key life support items, such as water and oxygen, and regulate thermal control while docked in the crew module. In addition, the depressurized service module can be used to carry additional payloads. For the first landing on the Moon, the Orion spacecraft will dock with the international Lunar Gateway, a lunar-orbiting platform that will enable sustained space exploration and expand humanity’s presence in space.