The European space truck Jules Verne is ready for launch

Europe's new cargo spacecraft is ready for launch from the European Space Base in French Guinea - the launch is scheduled for March 9

Europe's new workhorse is ready for launch, the European Space Agency has announced. The European Ariane 5 rocket will lift the cargo spacecraft into orbit and from there the spacecraft will continue towards the International Space Station with the help of its 32 maneuvering engines. The docking process will be performed automatically without any human help. And after the connection to the space station, the necessary supplies will be delivered to the station crew members.

The first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), known as the Jules Verne, is a cargo spacecraft designed to carry large payloads into space. The spacecraft is intended to replace the unmanned Progress spacecraft from the Soviet era, and manned spacecraft such as the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and the American space shuttle fleet.

We will also note that the one-time tasks of the Progress are numbered by the Russians since they do not have much meaning. The Europeans decided to give meaning to each mission and call each ATV model that goes into space by a different name. As mentioned, the name of the first one will be Jules Verne - after the French science fiction writer.

In recent days, the orbit of the space station has been corrected so that when Jules Verne approaches, the astronauts will not be blinded by the sun. Although the entire docking process is automated, the operators decided to leave no room for error. At the end of the docking, the remaining fuel in the module will be used to raise the station back to high orbit.

Europe is entering space with giant strides

The Europeans have invested in the AVT program eleven years of development since 1995, and a total amount of 1.3 billion euros (about 1.96 billion dollars), more than double the amount originally intended for the program. Despite all the problems, the program fits in a central place in the global space race. There is a growing need for cargo services in space, the amount of cargo that goes up to the space station is increasing and their frequency is steadily increasing. The Americans are going to decommission the old space shuttle fleet, and the Russian cargo spacecraft are too small to meet future needs.

The entry of the Europeans into the field of space brought a lot of criticism for the huge sums they were required to invest in the various projects, but today it can be seen that in the foreseeable future they are going to lead in a number of sub-industries in this field. Already today, the Europeans have a sophisticated space center in French Guinea, many satellites go up into space on the Ariane 5 heavy rocket launcher. Now Europe is planning to take a large share of the market also in the field of cargo transport in space. In order to offer added value, at the beginning of the development it was decided to develop a cargo spaceship that would be used as a real "space truck" - a carrying capacity of up to 7.5 tons, while the total weight of the spaceship with the cargo at the time of launch will be 20 tons!

Beyond the economic consequences, Europe learned a lot during the development period. The spacecraft is one of the most advanced on the market today, after it enters orbit it navigates itself towards the space shuttle, and automatically performs the entire docking process with a precision of a few millimeters. The use of the most advanced technologies in the field of optical navigation, intelligent communication, and system programming will be used by European engineers in the growing space industry and will allow to shorten the development processes of the Moon and Mars missions.

Beyond the advantages already mentioned, the ATV module was specially designed so that its assembly would be fast and flexible according to different specifications and different needs. Its assembly is fast and takes a few months, unlike other models that are produced for the space station and require years of development and assembly. The model is intended to be used once - upload equipment and supplies and after a few weeks/months disconnect together with the garbage and burn in the atmosphere. The size of the module (10 x 4.5 meters) and an internal volume of 48 cubic meters allows a double-decker bus to be inserted into it. The ATV is designed to last in space for several months before it detaches and falls into a garbage can, at the same time, it is possible to assemble more sophisticated models that will serve as permanent additions to the space station - for example, a living room for astronauts or a laboratory.