Johannes Kepler ATV

This article is about the cargo spacecraft. For the space telescope, see Kepler (spacecraft).

Johannes Kepler (ATV-002)

Johannes Kepler (ATV-002) Mission Patch
Type	ATV
Organisation	ESA
Space station	ISS
Contractors	EADS Astrium (prime), Thales Alenia Space, Arianespace (LSP)
Carrier Rocket	Ariane 5ES
Launch site	Kourou ELA-3
Launch date	16 February 2011 21:51 GMT
COSPAR ID	2011-007A
Docking
Docking port	Zvezda Aft
Docking date	February 24, 2011, 15:59:19 UTC
Undocking date	June 20, 2011
Orbit
Regime	LEO
Inclination	51.6°
Mass
Total	20,000 kg (44,000 lb)

The Johannes Kepler ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 002 (ATV-002), was an unmanned cargo spacecraft designed to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was launched on 16 February 2011 by the European Space Agency (ESA). Johannes Kepler carried propellant, air and dry cargo weighing over 7,000 kilograms (15,000 lb), and had a total mass of over 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lb), making it, at the time, the heaviest payload launched by the ESA. The spacecraft was named after the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler.

Johannes Kepler was the second ATV cargo resupply vehicle to be launched, following the Jules Verne mission in 2008. Johannes Kepler carried around five tonnes more cargo than Russia's Progress-M resupply spacecraft, and about 1.5 tonnes more than the Japanese HTV. It also marked a significant payload increase over the Jules Verne mission, which carried less than one-third as much cargo as Johannes Kepler.

Many of the supplies aboard the ATV were used for the Space Shuttle mission STS-133 and the ISS Expedition 26. A Reentry Breakup Recorder was placed aboard before the ATV's separation on 20 June 2011. Johannes Kepler performed a destructive re-entry on 21 June 2011, with its remains impacting the Pacific Ocean.

Spacecraft

Johannes Kepler in orbit, prior to its rendezvous with the ISS.

Johannes Kepler consisted of two sections: the Propulsion Module, with four main engines and 28 smaller maneuvering thrusters, and the Integrated Cargo Carrier, which attached directly to the ISS and could hold up to eight standard payload racks. The four solar wings of the spacecraft provided up to 4,800 watts of electrical power to its rechargeable batteries. The ATV's rendezvous and docking system mounted a telegoniometer, which functioned as a radar system, and two videometers, which fired laser pulses at cube-shaped reflectors on the ISS' Zvezda service module for range detection. The nose of the spacecraft contained rendezvous sensors and Russian docking equipment, as well as eight maneuvering thrusters to complement the propulsion module.^{[citation needed]}

Johannes Kepler possessed a far greater cargo capacity than its predecessor, Jules Verne; whereas Jules Verne delivered approximately 2.3 tonnes (5,100 lb) tons of cargo to the ISS, Johannes Kepler carried over 7 tonnes (15,000 lb).

Specifications

Largest diameter	4.5 metres (15 ft)
Length (probe retracted)	9.8 metres (32 ft)
Spacecraft mass (with fluids loaded)	20,010 kilograms (44,100 lb)
Deployed solar array width	22.3 metres (73 ft)

Mission payload

Source: NASA

Cargo	Mass
ISS reboost/attitude control propellants	4,534 kilograms (10,000 lb)
ISS refuel propellant	850 kilograms (1,900 lb)
Oxygen gas	100 kilograms (220 lb)
Water	0 kilograms (0 lb)
Dry cargo (food, clothes, equipment)	1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb)
Total	7,084 kilograms (15,620 lb)

GeoFlow II

Johanes Kepler delivered the GeoFlow II hydrodynamics experiment container to the ISS. This experiment was designed to observe liquid movements in microgravity, and compare them with computer simulations. GeoFlow II was intended to help scientists to understand convection currents within the Earth’s mantle.

Mission summary

Launch

Johannes Kepler's launch as seen from the ISS. The ATV is the thin white plume rising from the Earth in the center of the image.

On 16 February 2011 UTC, Johannes Kepler was launched on an Ariane 5ES rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch was conducted by Arianespace on behalf of the European Space Agency.

The first launch attempt, on 15 February 2011, was halted four minutes before lift-off, due to an erroneous signal from one of the rocket's fuel tanks.

Docking

ATV-2 approaches the International Space Station on 24 February 2011.

Johannes Kepler ATV prepares to dock with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station.

Docking with the ISS was completed on 24 February 2011 at 15:59 UTC, after a 15-minute delay. The spacecraft traveled over eight days to catch up with the space station, and arrived at the aft port of the station's Zvezda service module. During the rendezvous operations, ATV-2 traveled a total of 2.5 million miles. The docking occurred as ATV-2 and the ISS flew over the coast of Liberia in western Africa. Hooks and latches engaged a few minutes later to firmly attach ATV-2 to the ISS. The docking of ATV-2 allowed station managers to clear the way for Space Shuttle Discovery's launch on the STS-133 mission.^{[citation needed]}

The Johannes Kepler mission marked the first time European astronauts were onboard the International Space Station during an ATV mission, with Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli welcoming the ATV's arrival. ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was also aboard the ISS at the same time as the ATV, having arrived on Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS-134 mission in May 2011.^{[citation needed]}

ISS re-boost

Close-up view of Johannes Kepler ATV, photographed by an STS-133 crew member aboard the departing Space Shuttle Discovery.

On March 18, 2011, the ATV's Orbit Control System (OCS) thrusters were used to re-boost the orbit of the ISS. The engines were started at 06:00:00 GMT, and shut down at 06:14:42. The maneuver increased the altitude of the space station by 3.9 kilometres (2.4 mi).

End of mission and deorbit

On 20 June 2011, Johannes Kepler undocked from the ISS. At 18:30 UTC (20:30 CEST) that same day, while preparing to deorbit, the ATV was forced to conduct a debris-avoidance maneuver, using some of its remaining fuel to move into a safe orbit after NASA warned of a potential collision with orbital debris. On 21 June 2011, the ATV deorbited, burning up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean at around 22:44 CET.

ATV missions

Designation	Name	Launch date	Docking date	Re-entry
ATV-001	Jules Verne	9 March 2008	3 April 2008	29 September 2008
ATV-002	Johannes Kepler	16 February 2011	24 February 2011	21 June 2011
ATV-003	Edoardo Amaldi	NET 9 March 2012	Planned 19 March 2012	Planned 27 August 2012
ATV-004	Albert Einstein	February 2013	Planned	Planned
ATV-005	Georges Lemaître	February 2014	Planned	Planned

Sources:

See also

• H-II Transfer Vehicle
• Progress spacecraft
• List of unmanned spaceflights to the ISS

External links

• ESA - ATV
• ESA - ATV blog
• Mission Overview Video