A set of panels giving an overview of ESA’s ATV Mission, the Automated Transfer Vehicle.
The ATV is a series of unmanned space transport vehicles that will be launched by Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guyana. The most complex space vehicle ever developed in Europe, the ATV will test highly sophisticated rendezvous technology to carry essential supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.
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The ATV is the most complex space vehicle ever developed in Europe, a series of unmanned space transport vehicles essential for ferrying supplies and experiments to the International Space Station and periodically raising the Station’s orbit.
Each ATV will carry approximately 1300 kg of ‘dry cargo’ including 500 kg of food, 80 kg of clothing and spare parts together with tanks of fuel, air and drinking water supplies for the crew. The ATV, launched by an Ariane 5 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, will separate 70 minutes after lift-off to become a fully automated spacecraft.
A high precision navigation system on board will guide the ATV on a rendezvous trajectory towards the Space Station where it will dock with Zvezda, the Russian Service Module, about 4 days after launch. It will remain there as a pressurised and integral part of the Station for up to six months until its controlled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up.
The ATV will mark the first ever rendezvous and docking of a European spacecraft in orbit. Its operation will be under the responsibility of the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France.
