Under contract to the European Space Agency ESA, Astrium is industrial prime contractor for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).
A lifeline to Earth, the ATV will ferry propellants, food, water and equipment to the ISS. Once docked, it will use its own engines to correct the station’s orbit, compensating for a regular loss of altitude due to drag and will contribute to collision and debris avoidance. At the end of its mission, lasting up to six months, it will be filled with waste, and burn up as it heads back into the atmosphere. The ATV will be the first European spacecraft to carry out an automatic rendezvous and docking with a space station. A total of five missions are planned for the period up to 2013.
