Poster - The Automated Transfer Vehicle

The Automated Transfer Vehicle

ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV, is a series of unmanned space transport vehicles which will ferry supplies to the ISS.

Each ATV carries scientific equipment, food, water, oxygen and propellant from Earth to the Station and uses its engines to keep the ISS in its correct orbit. Each vehicle will be docked to the Station for several months. During this time waste will be offloaded into the ATV, which will burn up during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Launched by Ariane 5, the ATV is one of the largest and most technologically challenging space vehicles that has been developed and built in Europe.

It will perform critical manoeuvres in space for rendezvous and docking with the ISS, allowing Europe to acquire first-hand experience in such technologies, essential for development of space exploration in the near and long-term.