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Third European Service Module for Artemis Mission to Land Astronauts on the Moon

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday June 02 2020, @03:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the to-boldly-go-where-only-a-few-men-have-gone-before dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Third European Service Module for Artemis Mission to Land Astronauts on the Moon:

It's official: when astronauts land on the Moon in 2024 they will get there with help from the European Service Module. The European Space Agency signed a contract with Airbus to build the third European Service Module for NASA's Orion spacecraft that will ferry the next astronauts to land on the Moon.

NASA's Artemis program is returning humans to the Moon with ESA's European Service Module supplying everything needed to keep the astronauts alive on their trip in the crew module – water, air, propulsion, electricity, a comfortable temperature as well as acting as the chassis of the spacecraft.

The third Artemis mission will fly astronauts to Earth's natural satellite in 2024 – the first to land on the Moon since Apollo 17 following a hiatus of more than 50 years.

ESA's director of Human and Robotic Exploration David Parker said: "By entering into this agreement, we are again demonstrating that Europe is a strong and reliable partner in Artemis. The European Service Module represents a crucial contribution to this, allowing scientific research, development of key technologies, and international cooperation – inspiring missions that expand humankind's presence beyond Low Earth Orbit."

[...] The first European Service Module is being handed over to NASA at their Kennedy Space Center for an uncrewed launch next year, and the second is in production at the Airbus integration hall in Bremen, Germany.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:24PM (2 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:24PM (#1002375) Journal

    Did anyone else get slightly nauseous the 20th time you heard the phrase [ ...phrase removed for your protection... ]

    It's probably pent up pride mixed with piss off't ness at politicians for letting America get into a situation where it had no manned launch capability. How could this happen? Politicians!

    SLS will be ready any decade now!

    The Lunacy of NASA’s Pretend Moon Program [insidesources.com]


    Jim Bridenstine is lucky staffers at the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice don’t pursue bureaucrats for violating U.S. truth-in-advertising laws.

    If they did, NASA’s administrator would be in the slammer.

    Whether it’s the press releases his agency regularly issues, or the blog entries “he” writes, Bridenstine is responsible for the boast that NASA “will land the first woman and next man on the Moon” by 2024.

    No one who has studied America’s manned-spaceflight program to any significant degree believes that NASA will accomplish such a ludicrously ambitious goal. And Bridenstine should stop claiming that it can.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:37PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:37PM (#1002385)

    I was living next to the Houston Space Center when Bush (W) announced "his bold initiative to return to the moon." Nobody got terribly excited about it, good news to be sure, some more money, less layoffs in the near term, but hardly credible.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:54PM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday June 02 2020, @09:54PM (#1002403) Journal

    They could definitely do it by 2024 if they wanted to. Build the dumb Lunar Gateway segments, launch them with Falcon Heavy rockets, send astronauts*, use the lander module. The technology involved is not novel.

    Will it happen on time? Meh. 2028 was the original plan.

    NASA no longer counting on Gateway for 2024 moon landing [spaceflightnow.com]

    *Maybe they have to drop Orion [wikipedia.org] from the plan.

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