Tue, Mar 06, 2012
Ready For Launch Atop An Ariane 5 Booster March 9th
ESA’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ferry,
Edoardo Amaldi, is ready for launch on an Ariane 5 to the
International Space Station on March 9th from Europe’s
Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. ATV Edoardo Amaldi follows the
two highly successful supply missions carried out by ATV Jules
Verne in March 2008 and ATV Johannes Kepler in February 2011.
ESA Image
ATV-3 is named after the Italian physicist and spaceflight
pioneer Edoardo Amaldi. A founding father of the European Space
Research Organisation – precursor of ESA – and the
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Amaldi is famous
for being part of the group that discovered slow neutrons. This
third vessel in the ATV series is the first to have been processed
and launched within the target rate of one per year.
This marks the start of ATV as an annual production-line supply
vehicle for the Space Station, positioning Europe as an essential
partner in operating the orbital outpost. The spaceship will
deliver essential supplies and propellant as well as reboost the
Station’s altitude.
The highly sophisticated spacecraft is the heaviest payload ever
launched by Europe. It combines an autonomous free-flying platform,
a maneuverable space vehicle and – when docked – a
Space Station module. To achieve an automated docking under the
very tight safety constraints imposed by human spaceflight rules,
ATV carries high-precision navigation systems, highly redundant
flight software and a fully independent and autonomous
collision-avoidance system with its own power supplies, control and
dedicated thrusters.
The Space Station depends on regular deliveries of experiment
equipment and spare parts, as well as food, air and water for its
crew. ATV-3 will deliver nearly 10,000 pounds of propellant,
oxygen, air and water to the Station. Once docked, the propellant
will be used by ATV’s own thrusters to raise the
Station’s orbit periodically to compensate for the natural
decay caused by atmospheric drag. ATV can also be used to move the
Station out of the way of potentially dangerous space debris that
come too close to the manned space complex.
Before leaving the Station, Edoardo Amaldi will be filled with
waste bags and unwanted hardware by the crew. It will then be
deorbited over the southern Pacific Ocean to burn up harmlessly in
the atmosphere.
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