The last spacecraft in the series of European cargo spacecraft, is also the heaviest payload launched on top of the Ariane 5 rocket
Last night at 02:47 Israel time, the last ATV mission - ATV-5 George Lemaître - was launched. The ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle, is a spacecraft for transferring cargo to the International Space Station of the European Space Agency (ESA - European Space Agency).
Design of an autonomous spacecraft began in 1987, and in 1992, ESA and the American space agency (NASA) began characterizing the ATV to fit the then planned American space station - Freedom. In addition to NASA, ESA began working with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, the following year to adapt the ATV to the Mir 2 space station. Mir 2 and Freedom eventually became the International Space Station.
At the end of 1995, the final approval was given for the design of the ATV together with the Columbus Laboratory (which is now in the space station). The ATV is launched by an Ariane 5 rocket and launched from the Kourou space base located in French Guinea. The spacecraft transfers cargo such as experiments, food, drinks, fuel to the station and during its stay it provides propulsion to the space station and also makes track corrections.
The space station is served by a number of vehicles - the HTV Conotory, SpaceX's Dragon, Orbital Science's Cygnus, and the old Progress that have been transporting cargo into space since the late 2.4s. Compared to the Progress (as well as the Dragon and Cygnus), with which the ATV was designed to serve, the ATV carries three times more cargo (the Progress carries 7.7 tons and the ATV carries XNUMX tons).
After a few days on the track, the ATV is automatically docked in the Zabzada model, and after docking, unloading the cargo from the cabin begins. In addition to transferring the payloads, the ATV gives a push to the space station, to raise it to a higher altitude so that the station does not descend and burn up in the atmosphere. The ATV is docked at the station for about six months, and at the end of the docking, the ATV is released from the station carrying the station's garbage on it and at the end of the activity, the spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere.
There have been 4 missions so far and tonight, the fifth and last mission will be launched - George Lameter.
The first task was ATV-1 Jules Verne after the famous author who wrote about journeys to the moon, to the depths of the sea and around the moon. The mission stayed in space for 205 days and was launched on March 9.3.08, XNUMX.
The second task was ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, the physicist after there are three laws dealing with orbits around bodies. A mission was in space for 126 days and was launched in 2011.
the third task, ATV-3 Eduardo Almaldi, an Italian physicist and she was in orbit for 196 days.
Albert Einstein was also awarded an ATV, the fourth in number. ATV-4, was in space for 151 days. Before the end of the mission, the European Space Agency and the Space Exploitation Agency (SLA, Israel Space Agency) organized an event in honor of the spacecraft and it included a number of lectures on space and ATV topics, including lectures on Albert Einstein, science and engineering. Towards the end, there was a lecture by the project manager, Mr. Alberto Novelli who spoke about the project itself.
Tonight, ATV-5 was launched in the name of the first physicist who proposed the big bang idea - George Lameter. The spacecraft is expected to dock several days after the launch and is also the heaviest cargo ever carried by the Ariane 5 launcher.
Although this will be the last mission of the ATV, the project still continues in the Orion spacecraft - the spacecraft's service compartment will be a different model of the ATV's service compartment.
Now the International Space Station will continue to receive supplies from Russian Progress spacecraft and private spacecraft from the American SpaceX and Orbital Sciences that won contracts from NASA.
For the news on Ben Nathaniel's blog
14 תגובות
Miracles:
"Have you ever heard an atheist point out that this or that scientist does not believe in God?" – Are you seriously asking that? If so, then you're probably not listening to yourself.
(My advice: give yourself two slaps) 🙂
pious
For the purpose of believing in God. Newton too. I would love to know why it is important for you to mention this. Have you ever heard an atheist point out that this or that scientist does not believe in God?
Avi,
I'm sure Matra - who was an excellent physicist and a devout priest - would have smirked at your criticism of what he does with 99% of his time... but we probably won't be able to test this hypothesis anymore 🙂
Regardless of the debate, Belgium currently exists only on paper. It was strange to see that the announcement on the train changed from bilingual to only Dutch from the moment we left Brussels for Ghent
Adok, a man's scientific contribution stands on its own, even if the other 99% of the time he was engaged in nonsense.
Ofer
They also have a tendency to hate Israel....
Miracles
Why don't you point out the fact that Mr. Maitra believed in God, yet was a great scientist who had quite a few atheists in his pocket?
Nissim, do you have something against Belgians? And no, it's not as relevant. absolutely not.
Ofer
Why didn't you mention he was Belgian? It is equally relevant.
This is to give it a practical sound, because otherwise our decision makers might think they are spending two employees' salaries on science fiction.
The agency to utilize space - this is positive because it gives research practical value, economic power, and a civilian future. In my opinion, space is definitely an economic field of action.
Why does the Israeli Space Agency have to be called?
"The Space Utilization Agency" - looking for an anti-Semitic label?
It is good to mention on this occasion - and in particular on a website so fanatical about atheism - that Georges Lemtra was a devout priest.
The economic future is in space. When it involves forces from all over the world. Buds for this approach to globalization can be seen in the International Space Station. I believe that in the coming decades we will see Russian-American cooperation in manned research on the moon.