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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Service Module | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Service_Module | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:10:39.020562+00:00 | kb-cron |
On 16 February 2017 a €200m contract was signed between Airbus and the European Space Agency for the production of a second European service module for use on the first crewed Orion flight. On 26 October 2018 the first unit for Artemis I was assembled in full at Airbus Defence and Space's factory in Bremen. In November 2019, ESA member states approved the financing of ESMs for Artemis III and IV. In May 2020 the contract between Airbus and the European Space Agency for the production of a third European Service Module was signed. In October 2020, ESA and NASA sign a memorandum of understanding which includes the provision by ESA of ESM-4 and ESM-5 as a participation in the Gateway space station, allowing three flights of European astronauts to Lunar orbit between 2025 and 2030. In February 2021, the contract between Airbus and the European Space Agency to provide ESM-4 to ESM-6 was signed.
=== Artemis II === The 2026 Artemis II mission saw the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft and the ESM. After they separated from the upper stage, the crew conducted a proximity operations demonstration with the ESM and using the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) as a target. Over approximately 70 minutes, astronaut Victor Glover manually controlled the spacecraft, performing a series of maneuvers to evaluate handling qualities and practice techniques for future docking operations. The ICPS was equipped with a docking target, enabling tests of the ESM's ability to maneuver relative to another spacecraft using onboard navigation sensors and reaction control thrusters. On flight day 2, following completion of high Earth orbit operations and system checks, Orion performed a 5-minute, 49-second trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn using the ESM's AJ10 main engine. This was the only use of the main engine during the mission; subsequent maneuvers were carried out by the eight smaller R-4D secondary engines. The burn consumed approximately 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of propellant and placed the spacecraft on a free-return trajectory around the Moon, requiring only minor course corrections for the remainder of the mission. On flight day 4, astronauts Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen took turns manually controlling the spacecraft during a 41-minute evaluation of its handling in deep space, testing both six-degree-of-freedom and three-degree-of-freedom thruster control modes. A similar manual control test planned for flight day 8 was canceled so controllers could conduct additional testing of the propulsion system. The change allowed engineers to gather data on a small helium leak in the ESM and better characterize its behavior in flight. The leak was in the ESM's helium pressurization system, which is used to feed propellants to the spacecraft's engines and thrusters. According to NASA, the leak occurred across valves in the oxidizer-side pressurization circuit and did not result in a loss of propellant to space. The issue did not affect propulsion performance, and all major burns were completed nominally. Due to the relatively low propulsion demands of the mission's free-return trajectory, the spacecraft retained significant propellant margins, and NASA determined the leak posed no risk to mission success or crew safety. To support in-flight diagnostics, mission controllers modified the flight plan to prioritize propulsion system testing, including thermal and attitude variations to better characterize the leak under different conditions. Because the ESM is jettisoned prior to reentry and destroyed in Earth's atmosphere, these tests provided the only opportunity to collect detailed data on the affected hardware. Post-flight assessments indicated that the leak rate observed in flight was higher than expected. NASA officials stated that the issue will likely require design modifications to the ESM's valve system for future missions. The data collected during Artemis II is expected to inform these updates, particularly for missions requiring more complex propulsion operations, such as sustained lunar orbit activities.
== Specifications ==
== European Service Module models ==
== References ==
== External links == Orion Spacecraft at NASA Archived 2020-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Orion at ESA European Service Module at Airbus Defence and Space Archived 2016-01-08 at the Wayback Machine