Orion Service Module

[RocketDoc]

Is there any information about the dimensions of the Orion Service Module?? I am trying to make a 1\12 scale model of the system, for my collection, and I have only found a length, that says it is 15.8 feet long. This is a start, but, it does not give diameters of the inner cylinder and solar cell panels...etc... Can you help???

Thank you so very much!!!

[Jim]

Is there any information about the dimensions of the Orion Service Module?? I am trying to make a 1\12 scale model of the system, for my collection, and I have only found a length, that says it is 15.8 feet long. This is a start, but, it does not give diameters of the inner cylinder and solar cell panels...etc... Can you help???

Thank you so very much!!!

With the work going over to ESA, it is has not completed its design reviews.

[RocketDoc]

I thank you so very much!!!

[fregate]

Is there any information about the dimensions of the Orion Service Module?? I am trying to make a 1\12 scale model of the system, for my collection, and I have only found a length, that says it is 15.8 feet long. This is a start, but, it does not give diameters of the inner cylinder and solar cell panels...etc... Can you help???

Thank you so very much!!!

Did you try to look at ATV drawings - ESA may decide to re-use the same geometry

[simpl simon]

The ESM design is substantially different to ATV. ESM is designed for a completely different mission. See attached file, with the provisos that:
- as Jim said, ESM has not completed its design reviews. In fact, it is currently undergoing PDR.
- The formal industry proposal for the complete development (Phase C/D in ESA jargon) has not yet been submitted, so the technical baseline is still a bit fuzzy.
- the attached information is about 1 year old.
- with any luck, ESA might release more info after the Phase C/D contract is awarded.

[RocketDoc]

Those dimensions seem to be good for now... I thank you, andplease, keep us informed,a nd I will do the same if I acquire any more information!!

[BrightLight]

Here is a picture of the Service Module (the caption from ESA web site says model?) on the factory floor.

"23 May 2014
ESA is a step closer to building the future of human spaceflight and exploration in Europe by completing the preliminary design review of Europe’s Service Module for NASA’s Orion vehicle to send astronauts beyond low orbit. Europe is contributing the Service Module and expertise to the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle with flight-proven technology used on ESA’s series of Automated Transfer Vehicle supply spacecraft. "
from:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/ATV/European_Orion_milestone_leads_to_detailed_design

[RocketDoc]

Ok, Thanks for the info so far, I have managed to get the basic dimensions I need for the SM. Now, finding dimensions for the LAS are rather vague. I know it is 36" in diameter, but, I do not know the length of the powered portion, the escape jettison, the nose cone etc... I need a bit more details , so I can make an accurate scale model of that subsystem, along with my complete model.

Thanks again for all of your help. When I get this completed, I will take some pictures and upload them here. I may offer detailed plans sometime later, depending how they turn out.

Thanks Millions folks for your help!!!

Kim Currier

[Remes]

Here is a picture of the Service Module (the caption from ESA web site says model?) on the factory floor.

This is only a mock up for eft 1, build by nasa/LM. It is not a SM at all, as DIV/Orion is making all the propulsion, no life support, etc.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/05/EFT-1_Service_Module

"A working service module is not required for this test so instead NASA contractor Lockheed Martin built an adapter derived from the structural design of the service module to attach the Orion test model to its launcher."

[Prober]

Didn't find a quick Orion updates this article covers a lot of material
just bumped into it today in the electronics newsletter.   Not seen some of these drawings 

NASA Orion electronics: Celestial “hunter” seeking our originhttp://tinyurl.com/ngjqxqc

[Steven Pietrobon]

Here's a presentation on Orion's battery pack from that article.

https://batteryworkshop.msfc.nasa.gov/presentations/
01_Development%20of%20120V%20Batteries%20for%20ORION%20MPCV.pdf

A Titanium spring was used as a solution to packing the batteries in a small volume.

[woods170]

Here's a presentation on Orion's battery pack from that article.

https://batteryworkshop.msfc.nasa.gov/presentations/01_Development%20of%20120V%20Batteries%20for%20ORION%20MPCV.pdf

A Titanium spring was used as a solution to packing the batteries in a small volume.

With regards to this battery: it's located in the Crew Module, not in the Service Module.

[Downix]

I have now seen three different SM designs. The ESA module is, so I have been told, significantly different from the original SM design, so information I had on the other SM's is now effectively useless.

[eeergo]

5 November 2014
 ESA has awarded a contract to Airbus Defence and Space to develop and build the service module for Orion, NASA’s new crewed spacecraft. It is the first time that Europe will provide system-critical elements for a US space project.   
 To celebrate the signing of the contract, you are cordially invited to a press briefing on Monday 17 November at 14:00 CET at the State Representative Office of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, located at Hiroshimastrasse 24, 10785 Berlin, Germany.
 The press conference will feature:
 – Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary and Federal Govern-ment Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy,
 – Mark S. Geyer, NASA Orion Program Manager,
 – Martin Günthner, Senator for Business, Labour and Ports of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen,
 – Thomas Reiter, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations,
 – Rolf Densing, Director of ESA Space Programmes at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) (invited),
 – Bart Reijnen, Head of Orbital Systems and Space Exploration at Airbus Defence and Space.
 Registration
 Please sign up for the press conference via Airbus Defence and Space by email: [email protected] or telephone: +49 421 539 5326 before 11 November.

http://www.esa.int/For_Media/Press_Releases/Call_for_Media_Signing_of_the_Orion_Service_Module_industrial_contract2

[jacqmans]

Translated from German:

Press Release dated November 17, 2014

ATV technology for the new Orion space capsule:
390 million euro contract secures expertise of German aerospace industry

The Russian cargo and drive module "Zarya" - German for "Sunrise" - began on 20 November 1998, the construction of the International Space Station. The ISS is now the largest and most complex research laboratory in space, a unique and
unique test environment for scientific and technological experiments in weightlessness.

Germany is about 40 percent of the development and operating costs largest European ISS partners. The ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) is the European supply vehicle for the ISS. All five are in ATV "Airbus Defence and Space"
been built in Bremen. The last room of this series freighter docked on August 12, 2014, the ISS, to leave the space station in February 2015 and then burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. But the developed technologies for the ATV
are not lost. They flow in the European Service Module ESM for the new US space capsule Orion, which is to explore space beyond low-Earth orbit and the ISS.

"NASA speaks to us with this offer from a great confidence We ask the ESM for the first time a critical component for future NASA missions -. And indeed for manned and unmanned missions," said Dr. Rolf Densing, ESA's Director of Programmes
in the space management of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR). Thus, the technical know-how in Germany remain not only maintained, but could even be expanded. "This is for us a clear option for the future. The ESM is
a meaningful continuation of the begun with the ISS cooperation with new accents ", so Densing on. In addition to scientific experiments could at longer exploration missions, technologies such as life-support systems are tested
- For planetary scientists to interesting new research areas and objectives could open for the astronautical space also.

With the development and construction of the service module for the Orion capsule, the European Space Agency ESA has commissioned the aerospace company "Airbus Defence and Space" on Nov. 17, 2014. The contract for 390 million Euros have, Thomas Reiter,
ESA Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, and Bart Reijnen, head of Orbital Systems and Space Exploration at "Airbus Defence and Space" in Bremen, in the presence of Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economics
and coordinator for the aerospace, signed in Berlin. The service module for propulsion, power supply, thermal control, and storage essential supplies such as water and oxygen for the American capsule
responsible.

The first flight of the Orion space capsule with the European service module is planned for 2017/2018. It is an unmanned flight to the moon and back. If the NASA exercise the option for a second ESM, should the second mission from 2020/2021
control a previously captured asteroid with astronauts on board and bring back specimens. After the release of system designs for the service module in May 2014. Now the detailed definition phase has begun, the first hardware is built.

Orion and the European Service Module

The US space capsule Orion is designed for manned missions to the moon, asteroids and for missions in the depths of space. Developed for NASA and builds "Lockheed Martin Space Systems" the space capsule for four or
more astronauts. For the drive and the energy supply and storage of important supplies such as water and oxygen to the care based on ATV technology European Service Module ESM. Together form the capsule and the Orion
ESM the multifunction spacecraft MPCV (Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle). On December 4, 2014, a first suborbital test flight of an unmanned Orion capsule on a US Delta IV Heavy rocket is planned - with a dummy service module.
Using the ESM, the MPCV could the international space station ISS fly.

[BrightLight]

Components of Orion's Service Module are being tested:
crew module adapter structural test article:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/orion/2015/07/24/engineers-begin-testing-elements-for-orion-service-module/

[jacqmans]

August 04, 2015
MEDIA ADVISORY M15-116

NASA Invites Media to Orion Spacecraft Parachute Test in Arizona
 
NASA is inviting media to attend a test of the Orion spacecraft’s parachutes on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. An engineering model of the spacecraft will drop from an airplane 35,000 feet up to evaluate how it fares when the parachute system does not perform as expected.

During the test, Orion engineers will carry out a scenario in which one of the spacecraft’s two drogue parachutes and one of its three main parachutes fail. This high-risk assessment is the penultimate drop test of the scheduled engineering evaluations leading up to next year’s tests to qualify the parachute system for crewed flights.

Media will have the opportunity to interview Orion engineers, see the model up close and view the test from the drop zone. To attend, media must contact Rachel Kraft at [email protected] by noon EDT Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Orion’s parachutes, critical to the safe return of the spacecraft to Earth, performed flawlessly during the spacecraft’s uncrewed flight test in December 2014, helping slow the capsule from its high-speed re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere from approximately 20,000 mph to about 20 mph when the spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

The Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before, including to an asteroid and Mars. The spacecraft will serve as the exploration vehicle that carrier crews to space, provides emergency abort capabilities, sustains the crew during space travel, and provides safe re-entry from deep space. Orion will launch on NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.

For more information about the Orion spacecraft, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orion

[BrightLight]

Here are some more details on the service module from Mr. Bill Hill during  the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council on July 28th:
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/nac-heoc/#.VcI93vmm2u8

a PDF of ther power point from his talk is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/2-Hill-Exploration-Systems-Development-Status-ESD-Status-NAC_Hill-July-28_Final.pdf

Note that the Gant chart shows the integration of the SM with the CSM in February of 2017.
and I posted pages 2, 7 and 8 from the presentation.

[woods170]

Official ESA reporting (via ESA Bulletin) on ESM progress over the past two years is below.
These official reports are very scarce on detail. No images provided.


August 2013 (ESA Bulletin 155)
The contract proposal for Phase-B2 of the MPCV European
Service Module (ESM) was approved until close of the
PDR. The full contract proposal will be presented at the
end of 2013. The ESM system PDR will be conducted at the
beginning of November.


November 2013 (ESA Bulletin 156)
The PDR began in September. The PDR board will be
conducted in November. The updated MPCV-ESM contract
proposal will be presented in November. The second
financial slice of the MPCV-ESM project will be part of the
third Financial Binding Commitment to be approved at the
Ministerial Council in 2014. Technical exchanges were made
with NASA to identify concrete options for the extension of
the cooperation in Transportation Systems for Exploration
beyond the initial MPCV-ESM contribution, as foreseen by
the barter for the ISS Common Systems Operations Costs
(CSOC) compensation.


February 2014 (ESA Bulletin 157)
The PDR was postponed to May in order to give more time
to design trade-offs and to address the excess mass issue in
more detail. A new PDR schedule was agreed with all parties
and all milestones of this plan have been met. The mass was
reduced close to the requirement. The impact of the PDR delay
overall will be minimised by starting Phase-C/D activities
that do not depend on the system PDR. A fully consolidated
MPCV-level schedule will be agreed after the system PDR.


May 2014 (ESA Bulletin 158)
Recovery measures were implemented to get back on
track for FM1 shipment date of March 2017. The mass
non-compliance has been improved, and the remaining
over mass is considered manageable. Savings have been
identified with a new concept of a bellow water tank.
Deletion of a Command (and) Monitoring Unit should
allow a further saving. Clarification on Thermal Control
System mass increase and assessment of an alternative
radiator layout is under way. The MPCV mission data for
the ESM design and verification were baselined. The Crew
Module Adapter SM mechanical interface design was
agreed. The MPCV PDR is scheduled for 15 May with all
intermediate milestones achieved.


August 2014 (ESA Bulletin 159)
The PDR for the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle European
Service Module (MPCV-ESM) was held on 15 May. ESA and
NASA board members endorsed the project to proceed to
the CDR. The industrial Phase-C/D proposal was received
and the review started.


November 2014 (ESA Bulletin 160)
The system PDR for the MPCV-ESM was closed. Authorisation
to negotiate the Phase-C/D contract was granted after the
third Tender Evaluation Board on 25 August. Phase-C/D
contract negotiation is almost complete, with agreement
found on all major issues. NASA agreed to the ESM delivery
date of 29 January 2017.


1st Quarter 2015 (ESA Bulletin 161)
The industrial Phase-C/D contract between ESA and Airbus
was signed in November. Most sub-system PDRs took place,
with the last one to be concluded in April. NASA’s Orion
Exploration Test Flight 5 December 2014 was successful. The
next major milestone is the ESM system CDR in December (2015).


2nd Quarter 2015 (ESA Bulletin 162)
Almost all subsystem PDRs have been concluded, and several
important design changes on system level were agreed
with NASA. Among those changes is the manufacturing
of a second Structural Test Assembly that will recover the
schedule delay caused by other NASA change requests.
Manufacturing of equipment breadboards has made
progress and no issues were discovered. The schedule is still
very challenging.

[woods170]

Here are some more details on the service module from Mr. Bill Hill during  the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council on July 28th:
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/nac-heoc/#.VcI93vmm2u8

a PDF of ther power point from his talk is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/2-Hill-Exploration-Systems-Development-Status-ESD-Status-NAC_Hill-July-28_Final.pdf

Note that the Gant chart shows the integration of the SM with the CSM in February of 2017.
and I posted pages 2, 7 and 8 from the presentation.

Interesting to note from the EM-1 integrated mission milestones summary is that no less than three major  elements are on the critical path:
- Crew Module
- European Service Module
- Core Stage

On a further note: I'm getting messages that ESM CDR possibly will be delayed, by as much as several months into early 2016, on account of STA testing at the contractor's has run into some problems.