ESA - ATV - ATV docking trials

Flight plan

ATV mission concept ATV flight phases ATV cargo capacity

Spacecraft

ATV configuration ATV Integrated Cargo Carrier ATV Service Module ATV evolution

ATV Missions

ATV-1: Jules VerneATV-2: Johannes KeplerATV-3: Edoardo AmaldiATV-4: Albert Einstein

Operations

Flight operations ATV Control Centre Crew role

Industry

ESA's role European industry

Downloads

ATV Edoardo Amaldi factsheet (pdf)ATV Edoardo Amaldi info kit English (pdf)ATV Edoardo Amaldi info kit German (pdf)ATV Edoardo Amaldi info kit French (pdf)ATV Edoardo Amaldi info kit Italian (pdf)ATV: Servicing the International Space Station (pdf)

Multimedia gallery

ATV image gallery ATV video gallery

Services

ATV docking trials

A look at the tests conducted on the Automated Transfer Vehicle's critical automated rendezvous and docking system, in Val de Reuil, France.

Vodcast

Play now | Download

The Automated Transfer Vehicle, 20 tonnes and the size of a London double-decker bus, is the largest spacecraft ever built in Europe. The unmanned vehicle will be used to ferry cargo to the International Space Station and to raise its orbit.

The first flight model, 'Jules Verne', due to be launched next year, is currently undergoing final integration and space environmental tests at ESA's test facilities in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Jules Verne's crucial navigation systems are simultaneously being qualified at an exceptional test centre in France. The facility 100 km west of Paris, the only one of its kind in the world, belongs to the country's defence procurement agency, DGA.

The ATV programme has been validating the rendezvous and docking technologies and software, crucial given the human safety requirements. Each test was conducted with rigorous safety measures. Each phase of the test was conducted with realistic conditions. The tests constituted a fully representative replication of the final approach, guiding the ATV to its docking port on the platform with a millimetric precision.

Each approach was conducted in steps, in real-time, over several hours with the mobile platform advancing at an extremely slow pace. For the engineers and privileged visitors, these robotic tests had a magical, almost human aspect.

Send this page to a friend

Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)

Successful tests of ATV rendezvous replicate the 2007 Jules Verne mission

ESApod

Required software

Windows Media Player

QuickTime