European Service Module-6 structure ready for integration

First steps to the Moon: on 31 August the sixth European Service Module structure moved from its Thales Alenia Space manufacturing hall in Turin, Italy, to arrive at the Airbus integration halls in Bremen, Germany on 8 September. The structure will be used to support all the equipment to keep Artemis astronauts alive and propel them to the lunar Gateway on the Artemis VI mission. The trip took nine days over European roads via Austria in a special convoy.

Much like a car chassis, this structure forms the basis for all further assembly of the spacecraft, including 11 km of wiring, 33 engines, four tanks to hold over 8000 litres of fuel, enough water and air to keep four astronauts alive for 20 days in space and the seven-metre ‘x-wing’ solar arrays that provide enough electricity to power two households.

The European Service Module structure provides rigidity to the Orion spacecraft and absorbs the vibrations and energy from launch while protecting the hardware from micrometeoroids and space debris during flight.

There are now no less than four European Service Modules lined up and in production in the Airbus integration halls. The third service module for Artemis is finalising production and will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center later this year. The fourth European Service Module is starting to be built up so it can power four astronauts and the first European Gateway module around the Moon, I-Hab, similarly to its younger sibling the European Service Module-5.

The Artemis II astronauts will be visiting the four modules in Bremen this week as part of a general progress meeting between NASA, ESA and suppliers for the Orion spacecraft.

When ready for launch, each module will weigh 13500 kg on the launchpad, almost two-thirds of which is propellant (rocket fuel).