2011 European resupply spaceflight to the ISS
The
Johannes Kepler
ATV
, or
Automated Transfer Vehicle
002
(
ATV-002
), was an uncrewed
cargo spacecraft
built to resupply the
International Space Station
(ISS). It was launched on February 16, 2011 by the
European Space Agency
(ESA).
[3]
Johannes Kepler
carried propellant, air and dry cargo weighing over 7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb),
[4]
and had a total mass of over 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lb),
[5]
making it, at the time, the heaviest payload launched by the ESA.
[6]
The spacecraft was named after the 17th-century
German
astronomer
Johannes Kepler
.
[7]
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
resupply spacecraft, and about 1.5 tons more than the Japanese
HTV
.
[8]
The ATV used 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb) of fuel to boost the ISS's altitude from 350 to 400 km.
[9]
Many of the supplies aboard the ATV were used for the
Space Shuttle
mission
STS-133
and the ISS
Expedition 26
.
[1]
A
Reentry Breakup Recorder
was placed aboard the ATV before it undocked from the ISS on June 20,2011.
[10]
Johannes Kepler
performed a destructive
re-entry
as intended on 21 June 2011, with its remains impacting the
Pacific Ocean
.
Spacecraft
[
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]
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.
[8]
The four solar wings of the spacecraft provided up to 4,800
watts
of electrical power to its rechargeable batteries.
The ATV's rendezvous and docking system mounted a
telegoniometer
, which functioned as a
radar
system, and two videometers, which fired
laser
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
[
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]
Diameter at widest point
|
4.5 metres (15 ft)
|
Length (probe retracted)
|
9.7 metres (32 ft)
|
Spacecraft mass (with fluids loaded)
|
20,020 kilograms (44,140 lb)
|
Deployed solar array width
|
22.3 metres (73 ft)
|
Mission payload
[
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]
Cargo
|
Mass
|
ISS
reboost/attitude
control propellants
|
4,534 kilograms (9,996 lb)
|
ISS
refuel propellant
|
850 kilograms (1,870 lb)
|
Oxygen gas
|
100 kilograms (220 lb)
|
Water
|
0 kilograms (0 lb)
|
Dry cargo
(food, clothes, equipment)
|
1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb)
|
Total
|
7,084 kilograms (15,618 lb)
|
- Source: NASA
[11]
GeoFlow II
[
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]
Johannes Kepler
delivered the GeoFlow II
hydrodynamics
experiment container to the ISS. This experiment was designed to observe liquid movements in
microgravity
, and compare them with computer simulations, thus helping scientists to understand
convection currents
within the Earth's
mantle
.
[12]
Mission summary
[
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]
Launch
[
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]
Johannes Kepler'
s launch as seen from the ISS. The ATV is the thin white plume rising from the Earth in the center of the image.
On 16 February 2011 UTC,
Johannes Kepler
was launched on an
Ariane 5
ES rocket from the
Guiana Space Centre
in
Kourou
,
French Guiana
. The launch was conducted by
Arianespace
on behalf of the ESA.
[3]
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.
[13]
Docking
[
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]
Johannes Kepler
approaches the ISS on 24 February 2011.
Johannes Kepler
ATV prepares to dock with the
Zvezda
module
of the ISS.
Docking with the ISS was completed on 24 February 2011 at 15:59 UTC, after a 15-minute delay.
[14]
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
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
welcoming the ATV's arrival. ESA astronaut
Roberto Vittori
was also aboard the ISS at the same time as the ATV, having arrived on
Space Shuttle
Endeavour
on the
STS-134
mission in May 2011.
[15]
ISS altitude Increase
[
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]
Close-up view of
Johannes Kepler
ATV (top), photographed from the departing Space Shuttle
Discovery
on 7 March 2011.
Johannes Kepler
was used to boost the ISS's standard altitude from about 350 kilometers (220 statute miles) to 400 km (248 miles).
[9]
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.
[9]
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.
[9]
End of mission and deorbit
[
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]
On 20 June 2011,
Johannes Kepler
undocked from the ISS.
[16]
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.
[17]
On 21 June 2011, the ATV deorbited, burning up in the atmosphere as planned over the South Pacific Ocean at around 22:44 CET.
[18]
ATV missions
[
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]
See also
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References
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External links
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