European Service Module

European Service Module

The ESM is visible at left as Orion approaches the Moon on the Artemis I mission
Manufacturer	Airbus Defence and Space
Designer	ESA
Operator	NASA
Dimensions
Height	4 m (13 ft)[1]
Diameter	4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) excluding solar panels 5.2 m (17 ft 1 in) with solar panels stowed 19 m (62 ft 4 in) with solar panels deployed
Production
Status	Operational
Maiden launch	November 16, 2022 (Artemis I)
Related spacecraft
Derived from	Automated Transfer Vehicle
Flown with	Orion
Propulsion
Propellant mass	8,600 kg (19,000 lb)[2][3]
Powered by	1 × AJ10 8 × R-4D
Maximum thrust	AJ10: 26.6 kN (6,000 lbf) R-4D: 3.92 kN (880 lbf)
Propellant	MON-3/MMH

The European Service Module (ESM) is the service module component of the Orion spacecraft, serving as its primary power and propulsion component until it is discarded at the end of each mission. In January 2013, NASA announced that the European Space Agency (ESA) will contribute the service module for Artemis I, based on the ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). It was delivered by Airbus Defence and Space in Bremen, in northern Germany to NASA at the end of 2018. After approval of the first module, the ESA will provide the ESMs from Artemis II to Artemis VI.

The module's first flight was Artemis I, the first major milestone in NASA's Artemis program to return humans to the Moon, on November 16, 2022. The Space Launch System launched Orion toward the Moon, where the ESM placed the spacecraft into distant retrograde orbit around the Moon, and subsequently extracted it from that orbit and sent it back to Earth.

The service module (SM) supports the crew module (CM) from launch through to separation prior to reentry. It provides in-space propulsion capability for orbital transfer, attitude control, and high altitude ascent aborts. It provides the water and oxygen needed for a habitable environment, generates and stores electrical power, and maintains the temperature of the vehicle's systems and components. This module can also transport unpressurized cargo and scientific payloads.^[4]