Europe Powers up for Third and Fourth Orion Spacecraft
PARIS (ESA PR) — Europe will power the NASA spacecraft that take astronauts to a new international outpost and forward to the Moon, following decisions made by ESA Member States at Space19+ in Seville, Spain.
The decision by Member States show a strong commitment to progressing Europe’s exploration of the Solar System and will see ESA play a key role in Artemis missions by providing European Service Modules for Orion spacecraft three and four.
ESA is already providing the European Service Modules that will power missions one and two. The first Artemis mission will see Orion fly without astronauts around the Moon, with the second mission flying with astronauts on a direct return trajectory around the Moon.
Under current Artemis planning, the third and fourth missions will see NASA’s Orion spacecraft bring astronauts to the Gateway and on to a landing on the lunar surface.
The news confirms that humankind’s return to the Moon will be truly international, strengthening the collaboration between NASA and ESA on Orion, Artemis and much more.
Space19+ results also give ESA mandate to start procuring ‘long-lead items’ that require more time to develop and build – allowing industrial partners to prepare early equipment needed for a fifth and sixth European Service Module.
The first European Service Module is currently at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio, USA, coupled to the Crew Module and Service Module Adapter for thermal-vacuum and electromagnetic tests on the complete Orion spacecraft.
The second European Service Module is being built in Bremen, Germany, by prime contractor Airbus. The structure is complete and technicians are working round the clock to complete the module, starting with integration of 11 km of wiring.
NASA is committed to landing on the Moon by 2024 and Europe is now a trusted lunar partner, supplying the modules to propel Orion and support the astronauts with energy and consumables en route.
Follow the progress of the European Service Module for Orion on ESA’s blog.
5 responses to “Europe Powers up for Third and Fourth Orion Spacecraft”
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I believe that a lot of American space geeks don’t realize what a really big deal this is to the Europeans. I also think that it is a really big deal. And, when Starship is operational, things will change accordingly.
It’s nice that we can be so inclusive with the Europeans… and re-live the late 1960’s with them for an ENORMOUS price tag, using leftover Space Shuttle parts and technology.
Artemis should have been a competitive bid project, with different vendors (or consortiums) proposing their respective systems and then a few (two?) finalists selected for building demonstration hardware… not too much different than the Commercial Crew Program (except that Boeing is soaking NASA for that one big time while Spacex is doing a much better job for a much lower price). By the time Artemis gets the moon (much less Mars), Spacex will be there waiting with a fleet of rental Tesla pickups for them to drive.
I’m not crazy about SLS. But NASA says that it will glom on to Starship when it’s ready. I look forward to that. I also want to see as much competition as possible. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying NASA’s new energy and direction.
Well, at least the question of where the service modules for flights beyond the first two are coming from is now answered. For a notional 5th mission, we’re going to need both another SM and those redesigned RS-25’s AJR is supposed to be working on.
Personally, I think the odds are better than even that SLS never flies at all.
Yo Duh…Merry Belated Christmas . Well…NASA is apparently negotiating with Boeing for ten more boosters. And SHS has got a long way to go before it’s operational. It’s a genuine old time horse race between Boeing and SX to see who gets to ISS first, and who gets to the Moon/Gateway first. Game on!