The ''Johannes Kepler'' ATV, or
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...
002 (ATV-002), was an uncrewed
cargo spacecraft
Cargo spacecraft are robotic spacecraft that are designed to carry cargo, possibly to support space stations' operation by transporting food, propellant and other supplies. This is different from a space probes, space probe, whose missions are to ...
built to resupply the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
(ISS). It was launched on February 16, 2011 by the
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
(ESA).
[ ''Johannes Kepler'' carried propellant, air and dry cargo weighing over , and had a total mass of over , making it, at the time, the heaviest payload launched by the ESA. The spacecraft was named after the 17th-century ]German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
astronomer Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws ...
.
''Johannes Kepler'' was the second ATV cargo resupply vehicle to be launched, following the ''Jules Verne'' mission of 2008. ''Johannes Kepler'' carried around five tons more cargo than Russia's Progress-M
Progress-M (russian: Прогресс-М, GRAU indices 11F615A55 and 11F615A60), also known as Progress 7K-TGM, is a Russian, previously Soviet spacecraft which is used to resupply space stations. It is a variant of the Progress spacecraft, or ...
resupply spacecraft, and about 1.5 tons more than the Japanese HTV. The ATV used of fuel to boost the ISS's altitude from 350 to 400 km.[
Many of the supplies aboard the ATV were used for the ]Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
mission STS-133
STS-133 ( ISS assembly flight ULF5) was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program; during the mission, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' docked with the International Space Station. It was ''Discoverys 39th and final mission. The mission l ...
and the ISS Expedition 26
Expedition 26 was the 26th long-duration mission to the International Space Station. The expedition's first three crew members – one US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts – arrived at the station on board Soyuz TMA-01M on 10 October 2010. ...
.[ A ]Reentry Breakup Recorder
A Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR) is a device that is designed to be placed aboard a spacecraft to record pertinent data when the spacecraft (intentionally) breaks up as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere.
The device records data regarding the ther ...
was placed aboard the ATV before it undocked from the ISS on June 20,2011. ''Johannes Kepler'' performed a destructive re-entry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...
as intended on 21 June 2011, with its remains impacting the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
Spacecraft
''Johannes Kepler'' consisted of two sections: the Propulsion Module, with four main engines and 28 smaller maneuvering thrusters, and the Integrated Cargo Carrier, which attached directly to the ISS and could hold up to eight standard payload racks. The four solar wings of the spacecraft provided up to 4,800 watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s of electrical power to its rechargeable batteries.
The ATV's rendezvous and docking system mounted a telegoniometer
A Telegoniometer (a type of goniometer) is a device for varying the phase relationship(s) among two or more antennae in an array. This is for steering the directionality of the array without physically moving the antennae. the telegoniometer is ...
, which functioned as a radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
system, and two videometers, which fired laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
pulses at cube-shaped reflectors on the ISS' ''Zvezda'' service module for range detection. The nose of the spacecraft contained rendezvous sensors and Russian docking equipment.
Specifications
Mission payload
: ''Source: NASA''
GeoFlow II
''Johannes Kepler'' delivered the GeoFlow II hydrodynamics
In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids—liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) and ...
experiment container to the ISS. This experiment was designed to observe liquid movements in microgravity
The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...
, and compare them with computer simulations, thus helping scientists to understand convection currents
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the convec ...
within the Earth's mantle.
Mission summary
Launch
On 16 February 2011 UTC, ''Johannes Kepler'' was launched on an Ariane 5
Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads int ...
ES rocket from the Guiana Space Centre
The Guiana Space Centre (french: links=no, Centre spatial guyanais; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, a region of France in South America. Kourou is located approximatel ...
in Kourou
Kourou () is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It i ...
, French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
. The launch was conducted by Arianespace
Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy ...
on behalf of the ESA.["Europe’s ATV Johannes Kepler supply ship on its way to Space Station"]
ESA Portal. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
The first launch attempt, on 15 February 2011, was halted four minutes before lift-off, due to an erroneous signal from one of the rocket's fuel tanks.
Docking
Docking with the ISS was completed on 24 February 2011 at 15:59 UTC, after a 15-minute delay. The spacecraft traveled over eight days to catch up with the space station, and arrived at the aft port of the station's ''Zvezda'' service module. During the rendezvous operations, ATV-2 traveled a total of 2.5 million miles. The docking occurred as ATV-2 and the ISS flew over the coast of Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
in western Africa. Hooks and latches engaged a few minutes later to firmly attach ATV-2 to the ISS.
The ''Johannes Kepler'' mission marked the first time European astronauts were on board the International Space Station during an ATV mission, with Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli
Major Paolo Angelo Nespoli (born 6 April 1957) is an Italian astronaut and engineer of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2007, he first traveled into space aboard the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' as a mission specialist of STS-120. In December ...
welcoming the ATV's arrival. ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori
Brigadier Roberto Vittori, OMRI (born 15 October 1964, in Viterbo) is an Italian Air Force officer and an ESA astronaut. After graduating from the Italian Accademia Aeronautica in 1989, Vittori flew in the Italian Air Force. He then trained as a ...
was also aboard the ISS at the same time as the ATV, having arrived on Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' on the STS-134
STS-134 ( ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International ...
mission in May 2011.
ISS altitude Increase
''Johannes Kepler'' was used to boost the ISS's standard altitude from about 350 kilometers (220 statute miles) to 400 km (248 miles).["Higher Altitude Improves Station's Fuel Economy"]
NASA. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2013. The higher altitude has lower atmospheric drag, which reduces the propellant needed annually to maintain the station's altitude from 6,800 kg (15,000 lb) to roughly 3,630 kg (8,000 lb), depending on atmospheric conditions.[ The ATV used about 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) of rocket fuel to accomplish this change, with the reboost occurring incrementally over several months.][
]
End of mission and deorbit
On 20 June 2011, ''Johannes Kepler'' undocked from the ISS. At 18:30 UTC (20:30 CEST) that same day, while preparing to deorbit, the ATV was forced to conduct a debris-avoidance maneuver, using some of its remaining fuel to move into a safe orbit after NASA warned of a potential collision with orbital debris.ESA ATV blog
Retrieved 21 June 2011. On 21 June 2011, the ATV deorbited, burning up in the atmosphere as planned over the South Pacific Ocean at around 22:44 CET.[ESA ATV blog]
Retrieved 21 June 2011.
ATV missions
See also
* H-II Transfer Vehicle
*Progress spacecraft
The Progress (russian: Прогресс) is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Its purpose is to deliver the supplies needed to sustain a human presence in orbit. While it does not carry a crew, it can be boarded by astronauts when docked t ...
*Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station
Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) are made primarily to deliver cargo, however several Russian modules have also docked to the outpost following uncrewed launches. Resupply missions typically use the Russian Progress s ...
References
External links
ESA – ATV
ESA – ATV blog
Mission Overview Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:ATV-002
Automated Transfer Vehicles
Johannes Kepler
Spacecraft launched in 2011
Spacecraft which reentered in 2011
Supply vehicles for the International Space Station