ATV : Contract for the Solar Generation System

AEROSPATIALE MATRA LANCEURS, prime contractor for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) built for the European Space Agency, has just awarded a contract to Fokker (Netherlands) for the development and manufacturing of the solar generation system (SGS). The contract amounts to 7.7 million euros.

The ATV will be operational in 2003 ensuring the servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). Nine flight models will be successively launched at a rhythm of about one every 16 to 18 months up till 2013.

The solar generation system (SGS) is composed of four wings with 4 panels each, equipped with silica solar cells. The wings measure nine meters in length, and are equipped with silicon solar cells. The system supplies a maximum power of 4800 watts to the ATV during the rendezvous phase, and the phase when the ATV is attached to the station (a maximum of six months).

The ATV’s body is 10 meters long and 4.5 meters in diameter. Its girth with the four solar panels deployed is 22 meters. Launch mass will be about 20 tons. It will be launched by Ariane 5 Evolution with the re-ignitable upper stage “Versatile”.

ATV supplies the following services to the station: - Auxiliary propulsion and attitude control to re-boost the station’s orbit or control its attitude. Up to 4 metric tons of propellants are stored in ATV’s tanks for this function. - Delivery of freight: air, oxygen, and nitrogen (up to 100 kg), drinking water (up to 800 kg), containers for equipment and racks (up to 5,500 kg). - Supplying propellants to the station (about 800 kg of propellants are transferred from ATV to the Service Module tanks aboard the station), - Carrying away the station’s waste.

The main sub-contractors under Fokker’s leadership for the SGS are: Officine Galileo (Alenia group) in Italy for the solar cell network, and Contraves Space in Switzerland for the deployment mechanisms.