Service module, assigned to the Artemis IV mission, ready to ship to USA. The Orion spacecraft consists of two main components: crew capsule and service module. Lockheed Martin is responsible for creating the crew capsule, of the service module — the Airbus Defense company & Space.
The design of the Orion service module was based on the European cargo ship ATV, which was used to supply the ISS during the period from 2008 by 2015 year. Its length is 4 city, diameter — 4,1 city (19 m — taking into account exposed solar panels), the mass in the refueled state is close 15,4 tons, of which 8,6 tons is fuel. The total length of the wiring of the module is 11 km. The Orion service module carries all the necessary supply of air and water for the crew, as well as storage batteries and four solar panels. They will be able to generate 11,2 kW of electricity, which is enough to provide electricity for two four-person households.
The basis of the spacecraft's power plant is the AJ10-190 engine provided by NASA, which was previously used in the orbital maneuvering system of the American shuttles. It can provide a change in the speed of the spacecraft to 1800 m/c. It is also installed on the module 8 auxiliary engines Aerojet R-4D-11 and 24 small engines of the orientation system.
The Orion service module is currently located at the Airbus plant in Germany and will soon be transported to the Space Center named after. Kennedy in Florida. There it will be connected to the crew capsule adapter, and then with the capsule itself. After that, NASA engineers will begin testing the ship, to make sure, that it will survive an interplanetary flight.
This service module will be involved in the Artemis IV mission. Within its limits, four astronauts will deliver the Lunar I-Hab international residential module to the Gateway lunar orbital station, which will allow people to stay on it. The current mission plan also calls for landing on the South Pole of the Moon using the Starship HLS spacecraft.
For now, the Artemis IV flight is scheduled to end 2028 year. However, due to delays in the creation of Starship HLS and the non-readiness of other elements of the program, probably, its launch date will be postponed to a later date.
Source: https://universemagazine.com