ATV 2 (Johannes Kepler)

Spacecraft nº:

ESA spacecraft nº: 73

ATV= Automated Transfer Vehicle

Second European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to be launched towards the International Space Station. Named for Johannes Kepler, the famous German astronomer and mathematician, the ATV-2 spacecraft carries 5,929 pounds of dry cargo in its pressurized cabin. The ship will also deliver 220 pounds of breathing oxygen and 1,875 pounds of rocket propellant for the space station's Zvezda service module. Technicians also loaded 14,474 pounds of propellant into the ATV's fuel tanks to guide the 33-foot-long to the space station, then raise the lab's orbit by nearly 25 miles this spring as the outpost prepares for life without the space shuttle. The ATV's cargo load includes gear for NASA
Satellite manufactured by EADS Astrium, leading a consortium that included Thales Alenia Space (Italy), Contraves (Switzerland) and Dutch Space (Netherlands). The ATV comprises two main sections: the pressurised cargo carrier and the spacecraft section, the latter carrying the avionics, propulsions system, solar panels, etc. Diameter of the module is 4.48 metres, overall length 9.79 metres (10.77 metres including the Separation and Distancing Module). Four vanes of solar panels are deployed in orbit, with a span of 22.28 metres.

On Feb 16, 2011 the European Space Agency's second Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV 2 "Johannes Kepler" was launched by Ariane 5ES vehicle 544 from Kourou. The core stage flew to a -1274 x 139 km x 51 deg orbit; first EPS burn reached a 142 x 256 km orbit at 2208 UTC, followed by circulazation at 268 x 271 km at 2250 UTC and ATV separation at 2254 UTC. The EPS third burn at 0015 UTC on Feb 17 was used to deorbit the stage. The separated ATV has a mass of 19712 kg.
ATV 2 docked with the Station's Zvezda module on Feb 25.
On Jun 11, 2011 the orbit of the Station was 344 x 346 km x 51.6 deg. Between Jun 12 and Jun 17, 2011 in four burns using the engines of the European ATV-2 cargo ship, Johannes Kepler, the orbit was raised to 374 x 389 km - the highest it's been since October 2003.
On Jun 20 the Johannes Kepler undocked from the Zvezda aft port at 1446 UTC; a burn at 1706 UTC on Jun 21, 2011 lowered its orbit to 220 x 380 km, and another burn at 2004 UTC was used to send it into a -2 x 379 km orbit towards destructive reentry in the Pacific.