Jules Verne ATV Preparing for Launch

Following the successful launch of the Atlantis space shuttle, carrying the European space module Columbus to the International Space Station, the European Space Agency has started preparation for the next task on its space program, the launch of the Jules Verne Automated Transport Vehicle, the next generation of cargo spacecrafts to carry supplies to the ISS.

The Jules Verne ATV will be launched with the help of an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou, French Guiana, on March 8th, at 5:23 CET. It is carrying about 9 tons of supplies, ranging all the way from oxygen, for the ISS artificial atmosphere, to propellant for the space stations altitude controls, food, equipment, water and a series of experiments and spare parts. From this year on, it will become the only automated vehicle to re-supply the ISS.

ESA's ATV weighs about 20 tons and has been built by the EADS-Astrium, represents the most powerful ATV ever built and will be able to dock to the ISS by using automatic propulsion and navigations systems. Once in space, Jules Verne ATV will enter a trajectory that will take it directly towards the ISS, where it will execute a series of maneuvers, before docking to the Russian built Service Module.

Similar to the Progress freighters used in the past to re-supply the space station, the ATV could remain attached to the ISS as long as six months, to serve as a waste disposal unit. At the end of this process, the ATV will be de-orbited and put into a trajectory that will ensure a controlled re-entry into Earth atmosphere, where it will dispose of 6.3 tons of waste material, no longer vital for the functioning of the space station.

Originally, the Jules Verne ATV was supposed to launch into space on February 22nd, as an ESA press statement said on the 28th of January. The ESA failed to provide additional information regarding the nature of the delay for launching the new re-supply ship.