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ATV Ahoy ATV.Qxd 21-05-2007 15:20 Pagina 19 ATV.qxd 21-05-2007 15:20 Pagina 18 ATV Ahoy ATV.qxd 21-05-2007 15:20 Pagina 19 ATV John Ellwood Project Manager, ATV, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity & Exploration, Les Mureaux, France Jean-François Clervoy ATV Senior Advisor Astronaut, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity & Exploration, Les Mureaux, France Frederic Castel ATV Support, Les Mureaux, France ules Verne, the first of five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs), stands on the J brink of flight. Its inaugural mission, set for the second half of 2007, will conclude an extensive 3-year test campaign. During the coming crucial months, the programme faces three key objectives: prepare for flight, fine- tune the interfaces with the International Space Station and the ISS partners, and ready Ariane-5 for launching its largest payload to date. Introduction The ATV marks a new step for Euro- pean space transportation and lays a cornerstone for human spaceflight. It is the most ve r s atile spacecraft eve r developed, uniquely able to self-navigate in orbit and control its own rendezvous. It is a critical resupply tool for the ISS and for the Station partners, especially Final Preparations for after Shuttle flights end in 2010 and the ISS must rely on ATV for reboost and disposal at the end of its life. the First Flight of With ATV technology, ESA has the c apa ci ty for au tom ati c re n d e z vo u s between spacecraft – crucial for robotic Europe’s Space Ferry s a m p l e - re t ur n mi s s io ns, a s s e m bl i n g esa bulletin 130 - may 2007 19 ATV.qxd 21-05-2007 15:21 Pagina 20 Human Spaceflight ATV’s flight sequence, from launch (bottom left) to its fiery end in the atmosphere (bottom right). At top centre is the main control room in Toulouse. (ESA/D. Ducros) ATV’s complexity is comparable to that of the Apollo craft that took mankind to the Moon. (ESA/D. Ducros) complex spacecraft, and future human planetary exploration. Several European countries made the political commitment in 1988 to participate in the Station by signing the Inter Governmental Agreement with the USA and other participants. In 1992, ESA began a joint study with NASA to define ATV missions to what was then Space Station Freedom. The following year, ESA and the Russian space agency agreed to study possible ATV missions t o M ir- 2 an d, lat e r, to t h e Ru s s i a n segment of the ISS. After numerous political changes in the former USSR and following a US decision in 1993 to include Russia in building the Station, it was finally decided in 1994 to build AT V. In February of that year, the 111th ESA Council Meeting in Paris agreed to the M ann ed Spa ce Tra n s p o r t at io n P rog- ra m m e, including AT V.At the Ministerial meeting in Toulouse in October 1995, AT V ’s full development won fo rm a l approval. For more than a decade, ATV has i nvo l ved dozens of companies and thousands of engineers from 10 Euro- pean countries under the prime The Mission contractorship of EADS-Astrium Space Europe. Since summer 2004, it has been A typical ATV mission begins with Tra n s p o r t ation (F). T he comp ani es a s s e m bled and tested at ESTEC, at launch into a circular orbit atop a new include Alcatel Alenia Spazio, Contra- times requiring new technical solutions, version of Ariane-5 from the French ves Space, Dutch Space, Snecma, minor changes and a lot of fine-tuning. Guiana equatorial site. It is injected into Alcatel Espacio, Crisa and MAN. Eight The technical complexity of t h e the Station’s orbital plane, inclined at Russian companies are also involved, programme has led to a 3-year delay in 51.6º to the Equat o r. Under the with the main contractor, RSC Energia, the inaugural launch. Now, after responsibility of the ATV Contro l in charge of building 10% of ATV. meeting nu m e rous challenges, Ju l e s Centre (ATV-CC) in Toulouse (F), it The 19.4 t Jules Verne is the most Verne is in the home strait, aiming for separates from Ariane after 70 minutes complex space vehicle ever developed in launch in the second half of 2007. and a ct ivat e s it s n av i g at ion s ys te ms, 20 esa bulletin 130 - may 2007 www.esa.int ATV.qxd 21-05-2007 15:21 Pagina 21 which fire thrusters to begin its move The approach and docking are fully towards the ISS. automatic. If there are any problems, tanks connect to the Station plumbing After several days of raising its orbit, either the ATV computers or the Station and discharge their contents. The 100 kg ATV comes within sight of the ISS and c rew can tri gg er on e of t h re e of air for breathing is manually injected begins navigating relative to its target, programmed anti-collision manoeuvres. by the crew into the ISS atmosphere. For f rom about 30 km behind and 5 k m With ATV secure ly docked, the up to 6 months, ATV remains attached below. The computers begin final app- Station crew enters the cargo section mostly dormant, with the hatch open roach manoeuvres over the next two and re m oves the payload: supplies, into the Station. The crew gradually fill orbits, closing in at a relative speed of a science hardware and lightweight bags t he c a rgo s e c t io n wi t h u nw a n t e d few cm per second while both craft are with fresh food, mail and tapes from equipment and rubbish. Every 10–45 flying around the Earth at 28 000 km/h. their families. Meanwhile, ATV’s supply days, ATV fires its thrusters to boost the www.esa.int esa bulletin 130 - may 2007 21 ATV.qxd 21-05-2007 15:21 Pagina 22 Human Spaceflight requirement: even with any combination of two possible onboard failures, the craft must still be safe for the crew and for the Station itself. It must also tolerate one failure and still complete its mission. This high level of autonomy, courtesy of several layers of safety and f a i l u re management, allows ATV to fulfil the entire mission on its own, from navigation in orbit to rendezvous man- oeuvres and finally docking with the Station. The whole software package, the most complex ever developed in Europe, has a million lines of code. Electromagnetic testing at ESTEC in 2005 ATV’s main computer and its thre e i n d e p e n d e n t sub-computers act as the pilot, controlling the mission. In the S t at i o n’s altitude, which is nat u ra l ly event of a major failure during the degraded by the faint but continuous critical approach phase to the ISS, or if atmospheric drag. any manoeuvre endangers the Station, a Preparing for acoustic tests at ESTEC Once its resupply mission is accom- dedicated backup computer will inter- plished, and it is filled with discarded vene using highly reliable and robust items, ATV is closed off by the crew and software. t e s t s, had concluded successfully. In automatically separates. Its thrusters use This backup computer isolates ATV’s parallel, functional and operations tests their remaining propellants to drop out normal system and commands a special were performed at both the ATV-CC in of orbit – not at a flat angle used for the ‘retrieve’ manoeuvre to take the vehicle Toulouse and the Functional Simulation smooth reentry of manned vehicles, but into a safe trajectory. This independent Facility (FSF) at EADS-Astrium in Les as steeply as possible for a controlled mode relies on separate computers, Mureaux, 50 km west of Paris. and safe destructive reentry high above s e p a rat e so ft w a re, s e pa rat e bat t e r i e s, the Pacific Ocean. separate trajectory-monitoring sensors, Acoustic and thermal testing From its first operational fl i g h t , and separate thrusters; only the The Large European Acoustic Facility E u ro p e ’s most challenging spacecra f t p ropellants are shared. This backup at ESTEC simulated the stress that ATV will play a vital role in Station servicing. system is so segregated from the main will encounter during the first 3 minutes It is also a way for Europe to pay its ATV systems that it is like a copilot of flight atop Ariane-5. The entire ATV share in ISS running costs by spending responsible for safety hidden inside the structure – the size of a double-decker money within European industry rather automated spacecraft. London bus – must withstand frequen- than by cash transfers to its ISS cies up to 8 kHz at 143 dB, a level lethal partners. Preparations and Tests to the human body. 2005 saw small technical problems and In the second half of 2006, Jules Verne The Challenges failures late in the processing of Jules completed a series of critical thermal ATV is the most versatile spacecraft ever Verne, including a small fatigue failure vacuum tests that replicated the harsh built – it first acts as the upper stage of in a propulsion va l ve Ariane-5, then it is a fully independent and an anomaly in the spacecraft, and, after docking with the drive mechanism of t h e Station, it is a supply, life-support and c r u c i a l s ol a r a r ray s.
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