AUTOMATED TRANSFER VEHICLE

AUTOMATED TRANSFER VEHICLE

The two flawless ATV missions have demonstrated the full range of capacities, including automatic rendezvous and docking with the ISS, several reboosts, attitude control and special manoeuvres to avoid collision with space debris.

Each ATV can deliver up to 7 tonnes of cargo to the Station, including food, drinking water, gases, research and maintenance equipment and around 3 tonnes of propellant.

Equipped with its own propulsion and navigation system, the ATV is the most challenging spacecraft ever built in Europe, combining the fully automatic capabilities of an unmanned vehicle with human spacecraft safety requirements. It is a critical resupply tool for the Station, especially following the retirement of the US Shuttle.

The third ATV is named after Edoardo Amaldi, an Italian cosmic ray physicist and a founding fathers of European space research. This will be launched in March 2012 on a powerful Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport.

ESA astronaut André Kuipers who is currently onboard the ISS will be the prime operator to monitor the ATV rendezvouz and docking. After six months, the ATV will be loaded with waste and undocked for a controlled re-entry to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.