Orion’s 1st European Service Module Unveiled at KSC for NASA’s 1st Moon Test Flight on SLS: Photos

ESA’s first European Service Module for NASA Orion crew capsule is unveiled at welcoming ceremony at Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2018 including remarks by ESA Director General Jan Wörner.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Ken Kremer  --SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM --28 November 2018

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - The first European-built Service Module built to power NASA’s Orion crew spacecraft for human voyages to deep space was unveiled at a welcoming ceremony held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida - where it is now being processed for the 1^st integrated test flight launch to the Moon atop the mammoth Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket on the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) in 2020. 

NASA hosted the welcoming event for this first European Service Module - dubbed ESM-1 - inside the cavernous Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at KSC on Nov. 16 - and attended by a big crowd of dignitaries from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) who funded its development, the main European and US industrial contractors and the news media including Space UpClose.

“We will not go back to the moon … We will go forward to the moon,” said ESA Director General Jan Wörner at the “Powering EM-1” KSC media event. 

“We will go in a totally different way to the moon. Not in competitive manner but in a very cooperative manner ... to motivate the future.”

“Today we celebrate the delivery of the European Service Module, said  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

"The USA is very grateful for our partners at the European Space Agency and all its member nations.”

“This is a momentous occasion where we will have the opportunity to fly into deep space. And the European Service Module is a huge element of this architecture.” 

Enjoy our exclusive ESM event photos at KSC’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building. 

ESA’s first European Service Module for NASA Orion crew capsule is unveiled at welcoming ceremony at Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2018 including remarks by ESA Director General Jan Wörner.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The cylindrically-shaped European Service Module ESM-1 is the critical ‘powerhouse’ element that will supply NASA’s human-rated Orion spacecraft with electricity, propulsion, thermal control, air and water and propel it on its first voyage to the the Moon and 40,000 miles (64,000 km) beyond atop SLS-1 during EM-1 from KSC pad 39B.

Graphic outlining European Service Module for NASA’s Exploration Mission-1 with Orion human-rated spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket launch to the Moon in 2020. Credit: ESA/Airbus  

“This powerhouse element is what we need to go farther than ever before,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s Orion program manager.

“In space the two halves must operate flawlessly.”

“It’s a great day @NASAKennedy with our @esaspaceflight @AirbusSpace @LockheedMartin partners with the delivery of the #OrionESM !” tweeted Kirasich.

ESA’s first European Service Module for NASA Orion crew capsule is unveiled at welcoming ceremony at Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2018 including remarks by ESA Director General Jan Wörner.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

ESM-1 was funded and developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and manufactured by prime contractor Airbus in Bremen, Germany and Turin, Italy with components supplied by companies all over Europe.

After years of separate development the two main components are finally together in the same place for mating and more!

“Finally together! @NASA_Orion's service and crew modules are both at @NASAKennedy, and this is just the beginning – the first leg of an exciting #JourneyToTheMoon,” tweeted ESA. 

The implications here are huge because this marks the first time that NASA “will use a European-built system as a critical element to power an American spacecraft, extending the international cooperation of the International Space Station into deep space.”

Up Close look at ESA’s first European Service Module mated on top to Crew Module Adapter with 192 bolts - for eventual connection to NASA Orion crew capsule was unveiled at Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2018  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Eventually future ESMs will power Orion astronauts to the Moon and beyond on mission to deep space starting with Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) as soon as 2022 after life support and other systems are incorporated. 

ESM serves the same role as the Apollo Service Module (SM) during NASA’s Apollo Moon landing missions in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Orion and SLS  are under development by NASA to lead humanity back to a permanent presence at the Moon together with partners including Europe and potentially Russia, Canada and Japan.  

NASA’s Gateway human tended lunar orbiting outpost is key to NASA human ‘Return to the Moon’ architecture says NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

“We are in a good place to be a partner for the lunar Gateway,” says Jan Wörner. r

ESM-1 aerived stateside at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, on Nov. 6, from its manufacturing facility in Bremen, German after flying here aboard a huge Antanov An-124 cargo jet touching down gracefully at approximately 11:34 a.m. EST at the Shuttle Landing Facility – as witnessed by Space UpClose with photos taken from Titusville, FL.

First European-built Orion Service Module (ESM) arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard Antonov An-124 cargo jet flying from Bremen, Germany on Nov. 6, 2018. The module was provided by the European Space Agency to propel NASA’s first Orion mission to the Moon in 2020 on the Space Launch System rocket.   Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Orion’s first mission launches to the Moon on the uncrewed EM-1 test flight in 2020 on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) mammoth rocket.

Graphic outlining NASA’s Exploration Mission-1 with Orion human-rated spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket launch to the Moon in 2020. Credit: NASA  

The next step is to test, connect and integrate the two hardware components together with NASA’s Orion Crew Module stacked atop ESA’s Orion Service Module -  just like the  Apollo Command and Service modules. 

That effort begins now inside the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout (O & C) high bay at KSC where the crew module is being manufactured by prime contractor Lockheed Martin. 

The cylindrically shaped ESM arrived at the entrance to the O & C later the same day in flew here aboard the Antonov.  

“Come on in; we’ve been waiting for you! The @esa @AirbusSpace European Service Module is at the door of the @NASAKennedy Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building!” tweeted Mark Kirasich, NASA’s Orion program manager.

“Engineers will complete functional checkouts to ensure all elements are working properly before it is connected to the Orion crew module. Teams will weld together fluid lines to route gases and fuel and make electrical wiring connections,” NASA reported.

The team is already hard at work and had already connected the Orion Crew Module Adapter to the top of ESM-1 by the day of the event using 192 bolts that “are needed to keep the structure together and withstand the immense forces of launch and spaceflight.”

The work by technicians to attach the Crew Adapter to ESM-1 with the 192 bolts was arduous and excruciating at the complex interfaces between them, explained Philippe Berthe, ESA’s ESM program manager for Orion. 

Laser measurements are used to continuously check that everything is perfectly aligned as required. 

This enables them to start working on connections for power, data and welding the pipes for the fluids such as water and fuel between the two main modules.

The Orion EM-1 crew module will be connected next to the Adapter and ESM-1. 

Orion EM-1 under construction at KSC. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

For the thousands of miles (km) journey across the Atlantic Ocean the ESM “was packed in a custom-built container that keeps the environment inside within acceptable limits for transportation,” said ESA.

Prime contractor Airbus Defence & Space designed and manufactured the ESM at facilities in Bremen, Germany and Turin, Italy with over 20,000 parts provided by companies across ESA’s partner nations. The design builds on heritage from ESA’s now retired Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) which served as a cargo freighter for the ISS.

The 4-meter tall ESM provides power, propulsion, life support and consumables for the Orion crew capsule and the astronauts – including oxygen, nitrogen and water – on the first integrated flight with the SLS heavy lift booster on EM-1.  

Orion Spacecraft modules. Credits: ESA

The service module is equipped with four giant solar array wings that span 19 meters when deployed and provide enough electricity to power two three-bedroom homes, as well as the orbital maneuvering system. 

Each solar wing measures 2 m wide by 7 m in length. The four wings contain 15,000 solar cells to convert light into the electricity that powers Orion. 

Radiators and heat exchangers help maintain comfortable temperatures, “while the module’s structure is the backbone of the entire vehicle, like a car chassis,” according to ESA.

One of the key challenges was keeping the ESM spacecraft mass within tight limits.

“If you want to go far, you must go light,” explained Philippe Berthe.

"We have been on a 7-year diet to get everything included. So we took some short cuts for EM-1 because of the schedule.  But we have plans for the future modules to be compliant.”

“We still need to lose some weight for EM-2 and beyond."

"EM-2 is mass constrained. EM-1 was not.”

ESA is under contract with NASA to provide the service modules for EM-1 and EM-2 to fulfil their budgetary obligations to the International Space Station through 2024. 

The main engine ignites to provide the powerful burns to propel insert Orion into and out of lunar orbit and return to Earth.  The module is equipped with 33 engines altogether.

For this first service module the engine is a repurposed Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engine.  It has flown 19 times in space before on three shuttle orbiters including Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis from 1984 to its last flight in space in 2002 on the STS-112 mission and provides 25.7 kN thrust.

What type main engines will power ESM in the future.

“Six more shuttle era OMSs engine are available for upcoming Orion mission,” Oliver Juckenhöefel, Airbus VP Bremen told Space UpClose in an interview at the KSC event.

We will continue using these OMS as its a lot of money to develop something new and they are available to use now.”

After the Orion crew module and service module are combined and mated the usit will be shipped to NASA’s Plum Brook facility for rigorous acoustic and vacuum testing in the world’s largest thermal vacuum chamber.

“NASA Glenn is looking forward to welcoming Orion for testing when it arrives at Plum Brook Station next summer,” says Janet Kavandi, Director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio and three-time shuttle astronaut.

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist, journalist and photographer based in the KSC area.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events

Artists concept of NASA’s Orion spacecraft mission to the Moon. Credit: NASA

ESA Director General Jan Wörner and Ken Kremer (l) Space UpClose chat about the European Service Module unveiled at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, 2018