The ATV is an automatic, unmanned space transport vehicle which carries cargo and resupply goods from the Earth to the International Space Station. ESA Image
RSC-Energia Wins Key Contract For ESA's ISS Truck
 Turin - July 25, 2000 - Alenia Spazio, Finmeccanica, have signed an agreement of industrial collaboration with RSC-ENERGIA under which the supply and docking systems (the latter in a barter agreement between ESA and Rosavia Kosmos), together with their related control avionics, for the International Space Station's ATV logistics vehicle will be made in Russia.

ESA's ATV will be launched by Ariane 5 to supply the International Space Station. It will dock to the Station automatically and carry out the manoeuvre to raise its orbit. After the mission, it is destroyed on re-entry into the atmosphere.

Alenia Spazio is one of the main contractors in the ATV programme -- led by Aerospatiale-Matra Lanceurs of France -- with responsibility for the development and construction of the Integrated Cargo Carrier and the thermal control of the entire vehicle.

The Integrated Cargo Carrier system is made up of the fuel tanks and a pressurised payload module. It is equipped with an environmental control system so that the astronauts can load and unload cargo on orbit.

Alenia Spazio is the major European contractor for the International Space Station. On behalf of the Italian and European space agencies (ASI and ESA), the company is building over 50% of the pressurised, and therefore habitable, elements. The overall pressurised volume of the Space Station, 1,300 m3, is equivalent to two jumbo jets.

RSC-ENERGIA is the Russian company that was responsible for the construction of a fundamental component of the International Space Station -- the Zvezda manned and service module successfully launched last 12 July.

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    ISS TRUCKS
     ESA Signs Arianespace For Nine ISS Missions
     Berlin - June 7, 2000 – The largest launch services contract in the history of Europe’s space industry was signed today at the Berlin air show for nine firm Ariane 5 flights to carry the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).

    Latest X-38 Prototype Ready For Testing
     Edwards - July 17, 2000 - The latest prototype of the proposed ISS Crew Return Vehicle - the X-38 Vehicle 131R has arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB. Atmospheric drop tests of the X-38 prototypes will continue at Dryden for the next two years using increasingly complex test vehicles.

    SPACE.WIRE