Trade.Information

The First Automated Transfer Vehicle has now Come to Leave for the ISS, An Another European Milestone

With ESA’s Columbus laboratory successfully attached and operating on the International Space Station, the time has now come for another European milestone mission to leave for the ISS - that of the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), named 'Jules Verne'.

Europe’s massive 19 357 kg supply spacecraft will be carried into orbit by a special version of the Ariane 5 launcher. This Ariane is now scheduled to lift off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 8 March at 01:28 local time, 05:28 CET. Media are invited to space centres across Europe to follow this historic launch live (see details below).

From 2008 onward, ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle will be one of the space station’s supply spacecraft, delivering experiments, equipment and spare parts, as well as food, air and water for its permanent crew.

Constructed by EADS-Astrium, the ATV, which is the most powerful automatic spaceship ever built, will carry up to 9 tonnes of cargo to the station as it orbits 400 km above the Earth.

Equipped with its own propulsion and navigation systems, the ATV is a multi-functional spacecraft, combining the fully automatic capabilities of an unmanned vehicle with the safety requirements of a crewed vehicle. Its mission in space will resemble that, on the ground, of a truck (the ATV) delivering goods and services to a research establishment (the space station).

A new-generation high-precision navigation system will guide the ATV on a rendezvous trajectory towards the station. In early April, Jules Verne will automatically dock with the station’s Russian Service Module, following a number of specific operations and manoeuvres (on 'Demonstration Days') to show that the vehicle is performing as planned in nominal and contingency situations.

It will remain there as a pressurised and integral part of the station for up to six months until a controlled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere takes place, during which it will burn up and, in the process, dispose of 6.3 tonnes of waste material no longer needed on the station.

For the launch of this milestone mission, ESA, CNES, DLR and industry partners are organising coverage of the launch at various centres. ESA experts as well as industry representatives will be on hand for interviews.

About International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is a research facility currently being assembled in space. The on-orbit assembly of ISS began in 1998. The space station is in a low Earth orbit and can be seen from Earth with the naked eye: it has an altitude of 350-460 km (189-248 statute miles) above the surface of the Earth, and travels at an average speed of 27,700 km (17,210 statute miles) per hour, completing 15.77 orbits per day. The ISS is a joint project among the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Russia (RKA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and several European countries (ESA).

The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB, Brazil) participates through a separate contract with NASA. The Italian Space Agency similarly has separate contracts for various activities not done in the framework of ESA's ISS works (where Italy also fully participates). China has reportedly expressed interest in the project, especially if it is able to work with the RKA. The Chinese are not currently involved, however.

The ISS is a continuation of what began as the U.S. Space Station Freedom, the funding for which was cut back severely. It represents a merger of Freedom with several other previously planned space stations: Russia's Mir 2, the planned European Columbus and Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module. The projected completion date is 2010, with the station remaining in operation until around 2016. As of 2008, the ISS is already larger than any previous space station.

The ISS has been continuously inhabited since the first resident crew entered the station on November 2, 2000, thereby providing a permanent human presence in space. The crew of Expedition 16 are currently aboard. The station is serviced primarily by Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and by U.S. Space Shuttle orbiters. At present the station has a capacity for a crew of three. Early crew members all came from the Russian and U.S. space programs. German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter joined the Expedition 13 crew in July 2006, becoming the first crew member from another space agency. The station has, however, been visited by astronauts from 15 countries. The ISS was also the destination of the first five space tourists.

The assembly of the International Space Station is a major aerospace engineering endeavor. When assembly is complete the ISS will have a pressurized volume of approximately 1,000 cubic meters. Assembly began in November 1998 with the launch of Zarya -- the first ISS module -- on a Proton rocket, and as of 2008 assembly is on-going.

Two weeks after Zarya was launched, the STS-88 shuttle mission followed, bringing Unity, the first of three node modules, and connecting it to Zarya. This bare 2-module core of the ISS remained unmanned for the next one and a half years, until in July 2000 the Russian module Zvezda was added, allowing a maximum crew of three astronauts or cosmonauts to be on the ISS permanently.

About Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is a European expendable launch system designed to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit.

It is manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), with EADS Astrium Space Transportation (Astrium) as prime contractor, leading a consortium of sub-contractors. The rocket is operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme. Astrium builds the rockets in Europe and Arianespace launches them from the Guiana Space Centre.

It succeeded Ariane 4, but does not derive from it directly. Its development took 10 years and cost €7 billion. Ariane 5 has been refined since the first launch in successive versions, G, G+, and GS, and most recently, ECA. ESA originally designed Ariane 5 to launch the manned mini shuttle Hermes, and thus intended it to be "human rated" from the beginning. After ESA cancelled Hermes, the rocket became a purely robotic launcher.

Two satellites can be mounted using a Sylda carrier. Three main satellites are possible depending on size. Up to eight secondary payloads, usually small experiment packages or minisatellites, can be carried with an ASAP (Ariane Structure for Auxiliary Payloads) platform.

By mid 2007, Arianespace has ordered a total of 99 Ariane 5 launchers from Astrium. The first batch ordered in 1995 consisted of 14 launchers, while the second - P2 - batch ordered in 1999 consisted of 20 launchers . A third - PA - batch consisting of 25 ECA and 5 ES launchers was ordered in 2004. The latest batch ordered in mid 2007 consist of another 35 ECA launchers. Through these orders, the Ariane 5 will be the workhorse of Arianespace at least through 2015.

It consists of a large tank 30.5 metres high with two compartments, one for 130 tonnes of liquid oxygen and one for 25 tonnes of liquid hydrogen, and a Vulcain engine at the base with thrust of 115 tonnes-force (1.13 meganewtons). This part of the first stage weighs about 15 tonnes when empty.

Attached to the sides are two solid propellant boosters, P238 (P241 for Ariane 5 ECA), each weighing about 277 tonnes full. Each delivers a thrust of about 630 tonnes-force (6.2 MN). These boosters can be recovered with parachutes, like the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters. They may have been retrieved for examination on early missions, but are not reused.

The second stage is on top of the main stage and below the payload. The Ariane 5G used the EPS (Étage à Propergols Stockables/Storable Propellant Stage), which is fueled by monomethylhydrazine (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide, whereas the Ariane 5 ECA uses the ESC (Étage Supérieur Cryotechnique/Cryogenic Upper Stage), which is fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The payload and all upper stages are covered at launch by the fairing, which splits off once sufficient altitude has been reached.

The event will be followed live at the following locations:

France
CNES / ESA transmission at Toulouse
Address: Cité de l’Espace, bât. Astralia, Toulouse
Opening hours: 04:30 - 08:00

France
Location: ESA HQ
Address: 8/10, rue Mario-Nikis, Paris 15
Opening hours: 04:30 - 08:00

Germany
EADS-Astrium / ESA / DLR Event
Address: Astrium GmbH, Airbus-Str.1, Bremen
Opening hours: 04:30 - 08:00

Germany
Location: ESA/ESOC
Address: Robert-Bosch Strasse 5, 64289 Darmstadt
Opening hours: 04:45 - 08:00

The Netherlands
Location: ESA/ESTEC, Erasmus Centre
Address: Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk
Opening hours: 05:00 – 07:00

Italy
Location: ESA/ESRIN
Address: Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati (Rome)
Opening hours: 04:30 - 08:00

Spain
Location: ESA/ESAC
Address: Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n Urbanización Villafranca del Castillo
Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid
Opening hours: 04:30 - 08:00

Pictures Overview
In figure 1, Jules Verne is the maiden voyage of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle

In figure 2, The launcher fairing is lowered over Jules Verne ATV

In figure 3, Members of the Jules Verne launch integration team in front of the spacecraft at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana

In figure 4, The International Space Station as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-122