View of the Moon as seen from ESA’s European Service Module that is fueling NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back, on the new day of the Artemis I mission’s flight, on November 24, 2022. NASA
Yesterday at 16:52 CST (23:52 CET, 22:52 GMT) the European Service Module’s auxiliary thrusters fired to put NASA’s Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit, ten days after liftoff in the earth.
The European Service Module is powering Orion to the Moon and back, providing electricity, propulsion, keeping the electronics and crew module at the right temperature. In future Artemis missions, it will also provide water and air to the astronauts.
Artemis I is an uncrewed mission used to demonstrate and test the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft. It also gives mission control a chance to get used to flying Orion and operating the European Service Module.
ESA designed and oversaw the development of Orion’s service module, the part of the spacecraft that supplies air, electricity and propulsion. Just as a train engine pulls passenger cars and supplies power, the European Service Module will carry the Orion capsule to its destination and back. The Orion spacecraft is built by NASA and ESA provides the service module. The agreement stems from the international association for the International Space Station. Credit: ESA–K.Oldenburg
Distant lunar orbit
Yesterday’s engine firing pushed Orion in the opposite direction of travel to our Moon and occurred relatively far from the lunar surface, putting the spacecraft into a so-called distant retrograde orbit. This elongated orbit around the Moon uses little fuel. Orion’s mission profile will see it leave halfway before the full twelve-day orbit, firing its thrusters in six days to fly closer to the Moon on a final flyby and then pull away with the slingshot back to Earth.
Image of the far side of the Moon taken on flight day six of the Artemis I mission from the optical navigation camera of the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA
ESA’s Philippe Deloo explains: “The European Service Module operates more fuel-efficiently than the Artemis mission designers had anticipated, producing more electrical power while consuming less – so far we’ve been impressed by many things about the performance of the module”.
Orion spreading his wings X
The Artemis I mission is an opportunity to push the Orion spacecraft to its limits. Multiple demonstrations are taking place throughout the mission, testing the mission operations teams and allowing them to learn how the new spacecraft performs.
View of Earth as seen from ESA’s European Service Module that is fueling NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back, on the new day of the Artemis I mission’s flight, on November 24, 2022. Credit: NASA
“Mission control is enjoying pushing Orion and the European Service Module to its limits,” continues Philippe, “years of planning, design and construction to the highest specifications are paying off, the European service is working better than we could ever have. We look forward to it and have a lot of data to analyze and learn from to make sure we get astronauts to the Moon as safely and efficiently as possible.”
As the first European Service Module has been gaining its wings by flying around the Moon, the second module is now almost complete: its solar wings are being folded and stored to be attached to the second Orion spacecraft on next year The second Artemis mission will have astronauts on board and take a less intense route around the Moon and back.
The fourth structure of the European Service Module to power the astronauts of NASA’s Orion spacecraft on the Moon is now complete. The structure is seen here at a Thales Alenia Space site in Turin, Italy. Credit: Thales Alenia Space
The third European Service Module, which will carry astronauts to a landing on the Moon, is in production at the Airbus Integration Room in Bremen, Germany, along with the fourth European Service Module which will power the first astronaut on the ‘ESA and the European Moongate element in lunar orbit. The structure of the fifth European service module is scheduled to arrive in Bremen next month.
On Flight Day 8, NASA’s Orion spacecraft was two days away from reaching its distant retrograde orbit. The Moon is in view as Orion takes a selfie with a camera mounted on one of its solar arrays at 10:57 PM EST. Credit: NASA
“The demonstrated flight excellence of the European Service Module and Orion to date, together with ESA’s ambitious plans and the recently announced astronauts, make the immediate future bright for European spaceflight,” he concludes Philippe.
The mission will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.