Interview NASA has set late August as the launch window for its much-delayed Artemis I rocket. Already perched atop the booster is the first flight-ready European Service Module (ESM). Five more are in the pipeline.
Airbus industrial manager Siân Cleaver, whom The Register met at the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s Future Lab, has the task of managing the assembly of the spacecraft, which will provide propulsion, power, water, oxygen and nitrogen for the Orion capsule.
Looking for all the world like an evolution of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) International Space Station (ISS) ATV freighter, the ESM is not pressurized and measures approximately 4 meters in length, including the Orbital Maneuvering System Engine (OMSE), which protrudes from the base.
The OMSE will also look a little familiar: “We’ve taken those directly from old Space Shuttles”, Cleaver told us, which makes for a pleasing symmetry considering the mission.
The Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System has Apollo Service Module heritage and while those used by the EMS won’t be returning to Earth, the technology is well proven.
Sadly, old Space Shuttle bits are a limited commodity. “We will fly those up to ESM-6,” said Cleaver, “beyond that we’re starting to think about using a new engine that’s developed on the basis of this one.”
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