posted 11-22-2012 2:00 PM               

Editor's note: In an effort to keep the topic ESA to supply service module for NASA's Orion focused on status updates, readers' feedback and opinions have been moved to this thread.

Please use this topic to discuss the Orion service module as ESA develops it for NASA's next generation crewed spacecraft.

posted 11-22-2012 02:09 PM               

ESA also decided to move forward with supplying the Service Module for NASA's Orion. "For the first time, ESA is developing a cruise vehicle together with NASA," said ESA spokesman Franco Bonacina. The Service Module will be based on ESA's ATV cargo ship that supplies the International Space Station. The historic move commits ESA to a long term cooperation with NASA in human space exploration. It was largely made possible by an increased funding commitment from the United Kingdom of 20 million euros towards the initiative. ESA has made arrangements with NASA to allow the Service Module to constitute ESA's payment in kind for the ISS for 2017-2020. The move had generated some controversy due to the resulting designation of ESA as a subcontractor, which many feared would be off-putting to the general public.

posted 11-22-2012 02:12 PM               

The initial investment, worth $320 million over the next two years, will start development of a propulsion and power module for the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle, or MPCV.

Britain, which has eschewed contributing the space station in the past, put the proposal over the top with a pledge to pay 20 million euros, or about $25 million, for the service module.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, said the development could help a European astronaut secure a spot on Orion crews bound for deep space, the moon, or asteroids. The European-built service module will contain fuel tanks, provide propulsion, and hold Orion's solar panels to generate electricity. NASA plans to provide a maneuvering engine to mount on the service module.

posted 11-18-2014 06:16 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dom:
So is Orion now officially a joint US-European spacecraft?

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Under the contract, valued at 390 million euros ($488 million), Airbus will design and build one service module and build parts for a second to acquit ESA of its space station maintenance dues to NASA between 2017 and 2020.

...the two agencies have said they hope to extend the Orion partnership beyond a first unmanned flight. But for now, ESA has been unable to secure its member states' commitment to the station beyond 2020 — and even 2020 is subject to final approval.

The NASA-ESA Orion agreement stops at provision of hardware for a second service module, which could be assembled in the United States by a U.S. contractor in the event the agreement is not extended.

ESA governments are scheduled to meet Dec. 2 to formalize their commitment to station operations to 2020 and to complete the financial backing needed for the Orion service module.

posted 11-18-2014 06:52 PM               

This means that Orion, which is more than twice as heavy as Apollo, will be powered by an engine that produces less than half the thrust of the Apollo engine?

posted 11-18-2014 07:08 PM               

The thrust level was twice what was needed to accomplish the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, because the engine was originally sized to lift the CM with a much larger SM off of the lunar surface in the direct ascent mode assumed in original planning.

posted 12-14-2016 09:55 PM            

The engine provides 25.7 kN, enough to lift a van, and can swivel in pitch and yaw.