ESA's Automated Transport Vehicle (ATV): Edoardo Amaldi

Credits: ESA TV

Building on the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) in the new scenario the pressurised Integrated Cargo Carrier would be replaced by a cargo re-entry capsule, equipped with a heat shield and able to bring back hundreds of kilograms of cargo and valuable experiments.

Such a project, named the Advanced Re-entry Vehicle (ARV), would use heritage from the Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator (ARD), which flew successfully in 1998, as well as the work done in the definition of past space transportation system concepts.

Re-entry systems are not new. The most complex was the NASA Shuttle but the Apollo programme also used a crude re-entry capsule. The concept of a re-useable re-entry system has been maintained by the Russians in the Soyuz Proton system, which is regularly used to upload astronauts and payloads to the ISS and return them safely to the Earth.

To add apersonal note: I was closely involved in the ATV programme for some years, as you will se from my blogsite and profile and our good friends, the Italians were always keen to put their stamp on prestigeous activities. So I wish them every success with these launches and subsequent flights.

The story so far ....

Production of the Automated Transfer Vehicles is gearing up. After the flawless flight of the first ATV, Jules Verne, the second, ATV Johannes Kepler, is being completed for launch later this year. Now the third ATV has been named after the Italian physicist and space pioneer Edoardo Amaldi.

Europe's ATV space freighter proved its maturity in 2008, when Jules Verne completed a demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS), docked with 4.5 tonnes of food, water, fuel, supplies and equipment, served as a propulsion module for six months and finally undocked and entered Earth’s atmosphere over the southern Pacific.

The ATV spacecraft are key to the Station's logistics and operations. They are an excellent demonstration of Europe’s capability in creating space infrastructure for human spaceflight and exploration. The first ATV was named after the visionary French science-fiction writer Jules Verne, and the second honoured German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler.

"Italy is a key European country in our participation in the ISS partnership. By naming ATV-3 after Edoardo Amaldi, we celebrate a great Italian, but also a committed European who understood the importance of pooling resources and minds together to achieve important results," said fellow Italian, Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director for Human Spaceflight.

The occasion was a press conference held in the presence of Sottosegretario Pizza, Ministry of Education, University and Research and Enrico Saggese, President of Italy’s ASI space agency at the Italian Ministry in Rome.

"We are paying tribute to a visionary mind, to a great scientist but also to an idea of cooperation that is embodied in the ISS partnership. The ATV is the first recurring production of an exploration spacecraft and places Europe a step closer to our partners.

"I am glad that Italy is taking so much pride in their participation in the ISS, which is a recognition of their human and industrial capabilities."