Airbus Defence and Space has started assembling the European Service Module (ESM), a key element of NASA’s next-generation Orion spacecraft that will transport astronauts into deep space for the first time since the end of the Apollo programme. Following the arrival of the flight model structure from Thales Alenia Space Italy, the assembly is being carried out at the Airbus DS site at Bremen, Germany.

Airbus DS was chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) as prime contractor to develop and build the ESM in November 2014. Sitting below the crew module, the ESM will supply propulsion, power, thermal control, air and water for astronauts on missions beyond the Moon and to Mars.

The second test flight of the Orion vehicle and its first atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is designated Exploration Mission-1. This 2018 mission will be un-crewed and travel more than 64,000km beyond the Moon to demonstrate the spacecraft’s performance. The first crewed mission, Exploration Mission-2, will be launched as early as 2021.

The ESM is cylindrical in shape and about four metres in diameter and in height. It features the ATV’s distinctive four-wing solar array (19m across, unfurled). Its 8.6t of propellant will power one main engine and 32 smaller thrusters. The ESM has a total mass of just over 13t.