ESA ATV and ISS Credit - ESA via Marcus Lindroos Media Gallery

The Automated Transfer Vehicle was first proposed in the mid-1980s as a way to transport unmanned cargo to a Space Station. Later the design was based on use of an Ariane 5 to launch the ATV for docking with the International Space Station. Following protracted development, the ATV was set to fly no earlier than 2007.

Early studies focused on a modified version of the Ariane-5's L9.7 upper stage -- the 'ARIES' concept -- but by 1992 the European Space Agency had decided a custom-built propulsion module would be more efficient. A pressurized or unpressurised Cargo Carrier module would transport up to 9000 kg of supplies.

The European Space Agency also considered using the Ariane-5/ATV to launch the Columbus laboratory. The project's detailed Phase B2 began in July 1996. By 1997, ESA had decided to use solar panels to produce additional power for the Automated Transfer Vehicle. One mission of the Automated Transfer Vehicle would be to boost the International Space Station's orbit. Occasional propulsive maneuvers would be necessary to keep the ISS orbit from decaying, since air drag slowly lowered the Space Station's orbit. The ATV would dock at the rear of the Russian Service Module and the Russian Space Agency was providing a rendezvous and docking system as part of an ESA/RSA deal. Periodically boosting the ISS orbit now increasingly appeared to be the ATV's most important mission, since the Russians might not be able to launch enough Progress cargo spacecraft to do the job and the shuttle would eventually retire.

ESA signed a $470 million contract with Aerospatiale in 1998 to develop the Automated Transfer Vehicle. The European Space Agency also paid $23 million to RSA and NPO Energia for integrating the ATV into the ISS Service Module, while the French space agency CNES received $30 million to develop interfaces for the ATV's Ariane-5 carrier rocket. Aerospatiale also signed a consortium agreement with Daimler Chrysler Aerospace, who were to produce up to a dozen ATVs between 2003 and 2013. The target price was $70 million per ATV plus $115 million for the Ariane-5 booster. The final ATV version had a dry mass of 9.2t (including its 3,694kg MPLM-derived Cargo Carrier); carried 2.68-6.76t of propellant for ISS rendezvous and reboost; and the maximum weight at launch was about 20.5t. The spacecraft could carry up to 7 metric tons of cargo in eight International Standard Payload Racks, including 860kg of propellant, 840kg of water and 100kg of atmospheric gases.

In 2005 Lockheed Martin and EADS Space Transportation joined forces to sell the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to NASA for ISS resupply. The first ATV was then expected to launch in May 2007. While the ATV would certainly be launched on the Ariane 5 rocket for European missions, it could potentially be launched by Lockheed's Atlas 5 if contracted by NASA.

Typical orbit: 407 km circular orbit, 51.6 deg inclination. Mass: 20,500 kg (45,100 lb). Payload: 7,000 kg (15,400 lb). Main Engine Propellants: 4,300 kg (9,400 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G.