A significant stage has just been passed within the context of the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) structural and thermal test campaign, with solar array deployment tests successfully completed.
Dedicated to service the International Space Station (ISS) and to periodically raise its orbit, the ATV is the first vehicle developed by Europe that shall carry out rendezvous and docking with a space station. It will be launched by Ariane 5.
EADS Launch Vehicles is Prime Contractor for the development of the ATV for the European Space Agency (ESA). As such, it has been conducting since early-December 2001 structural and thermal tests on the STM (Structural and Thermal Model), ATV's first test model, at the ESTEC facility in the Netherlands.
After acoustic and dynamic tests had been successfully completed, full solar array deployment was tested in June, 2002. It aimed at demonstrating that the deployment mechanism was correctly operating after it had completely undergone the preceding series of tests. The ATV's electrical power supply is based on four deploying and revolving solar panels (6.7 m long and 1.1 m wide each), always facing the sun. This makes the ATV independent during free flight, and most of the time it is connected to the ISS, so that it rarely needs to call on the station's electrical power. The test was a full success and demonstrated by it the solidity of the whole vehicle design and equipment.
The next and last stage shall occur in the course of July and perform an important thermal test. It aims at checking the ATV's resistance to a severe space environment with a temperature variation between -130C° and +150C° outside the vehicle, depending on the exposure to the sun. The test model will purposefully be set into ESA's Large Space Simulator (LSS) to qualify the thermal regulation and insulation system inside the entire vehicle.
Integration of First Flight Model "Jules Verne"
In the same time, the main European partners involved in this programme started to manufacture ATV's first flight model that shall rendezvous and dock with the ISS in September 2004.
The ATV comprises two main modules: a service module, called "Spacecraft" and the cargo carrier. The service module houses all vital systems: propulsion, electrical power, computers and avionics. The integration of the avionics bay sub-system is already in the pipeline at the Astrium facility in Toulouse. As for it, the propulsion sub-system integration is scheduled for early-July at Astrium Space Infrastructure in Bremen.
The cargo carrier includes a pressurised section, enabling the station crew to enter and unload supplies, transfer the water and air, nitrogen and oxygen to the station, and finally load waste before departure. Its integration shall also start at the beginning of July at the Alenia Spazio facility in Turin (Italy).
All elements of the ATV shall then be transferred to Astrium Space Infrastructure in Bremen, integration place of the first flight vehicle under EADS Launch Vehicles' responsibility. Standard ATVs shall then be manufactured in Bremen, Astrium Space Infrastructure being the Contractor.
As the European specialist for space transportation, EADS-LV designs and develops the launch vehicles of the Ariane family, orbital infrastructures, the ATV logistic spacecraft, missiles for France's deterrent force as well as space equipment. EADS-LV is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EADS. With 3,200 employees in France, EADS-LV turned over 1.04 billion euros in 2001.
-ends- International Space Station ATV: Solar Arrays Successfully Deployed During Tests
