The vital engine behind humanity's return to the lunar surface
While NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the headlines, a sophisticated European component provides the life-sustaining essentials. From managing temperature to powering propulsion, the European Service Module is the silent partner ensuring astronauts can survive the vastness of deep space.
The European Service Module (ESM) serves as the primary power and propulsion unit for the Orion spacecraft. During the Artemis II mission, which launched on 1 April and spanned 10 days, the ESM was responsible for maintaining thermal control and supplying vital air and water to the crew. To navigate the immense distances of deep space—covering more than one million kilometres—the module utilized four solar arrays to generate electricity and provided the necessary thrust to keep the spacecraft on course.
The construction of the ESM is a massive international undertaking. Under the leadership of the European Space Agency (ESA), the module's structure was built by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, and assembled by Airbus in Bremen, Germany. This complex engineering feat integrates expertise from 13 different European nations. Following the success of Artemis I and II, the third ESM arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2024, ready to support the upcoming Artemis III mission.
The importance of this technology was recently highlighted during a visit by the Artemis II crew to ESA’s technical site in the Netherlands. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen met with the engineers at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) who monitored the module's performance around the clock. This collaboration between NASA and ESA underscores a shared commitment to sending humans beyond low-Earth orbit and eventually to the lunar surface.
Source: Artemis II astronauts visit European Service Module-2
