Automated Transfer Vehicle - Design

Design

The ATV is designed to complement the Progress spacecraft, having three times its capacity. Like the Progress, it carries both bulk liquids and relatively fragile freight which is stored in a cargo hold kept in a pressurized shirt-sleeve environment so that astronauts can have access to it without putting on a spacesuit. The ATV pressurized cargo section is based on the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), which was a Shuttle-carried ‘space barge’ transporting equipment to and from the Station. Unlike the MPLM the ATV uses the Progress docking mechanism.

The ATV docking system consists of two videometers and two telegoniometers built by Sodern, a subsidiary of EADS. Data processing for the rendezvous docking maneuver and emergency abort systems have been designed and manufactered by CRISA. Additional monitoring data is supplied by a redundant Russian-made antenna built for the Ukrainian-built Kurs, an automatic docking system similar to those used on Soyuz manned ferries and on the Progress re-supply ship. Visual imagery is provided by a camera on the Zvezda ISS module.

The ATV, like the Progress, will also serve as a container for the station's waste. Each ATV weighs 20.7 tonnes at launch and has a cargo capacity of 8 tonnes:

  • 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb) to 5,500 kilograms (12,000 lb) of dry cargo (re-supply goods, scientific payload, etc.),
  • Up to 840 kilograms (1,900 lb) of water,
  • Up to 100 kilograms (220 lb) of gas (nitrogen, oxygen, air), with up to two gases per flight,
  • Up to 4,700 kilograms (10,000 lb) of propellant for the re-boost maneuver and refueling the station. The ATV propellant used for re-boost (monomethylhydrazine fuel and N2O4 oxidizer) is of a different type from the payload refueling propellant (UDMH fuel and N2O4 oxidizer).

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