The new Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is intended to bring new supplies to the International Space Agency (ISS) in September 2004.

"Russian and European specialists are working on the project," according to Patrice Amadieu, deputy director of the ATV project, speaking at the MAKS-2003 aviation and space salon just outside Moscow.

"Some of our equipment is designed by Russian space construction company RKK Energia," he said, in particular the ATV's docking system.

"This is a very good example of European and Russian partnership," according to the ESA's representative in Russia, Alain Fournier-Sicre.

"The ATV's propulsion system is being tested. The vehicle will continue to be assembled between September 2003 and February 2004."

Following tests, the ATV will be sent to the launch site at Kourou in French Guyana in June or July, set for launch on top of an Ariane-5 rocket in September.

The first ATV will be named Jules Verne, after the 19th-century French writer. It can carry up to nine tonnes of cargo to the ISS.

The ATV will dock with the Russian section of the ISS for six months before taking 6.5 tonnes of waste away with it and burning up over the Pacific Ocean.

The cost of the project is around 750 million euros (815 million dollars).

SPACE.WIRE