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Thales Alenia Space to provide the cargo carrier module of the second ATV

08 September 2009

The Kepler module, like its precursor Jules Verne, represents Europe’s key role in the International Space Station’s (ISS) logistics and operations.

Cannes, September 08, 2009 - Thales Alenia Space announced today that the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) part of the second ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has been successfully manufactured and integrated. This module will leave Thales Alenia Space’s Turin plant (Italy) for prime contractor EADS Astrium facility in Bremen (Germany). It will then be integrated and tested with the propulsion bay and the avionic bay, two majors’ elements of the ATV Johannes Kepler.

ATV is an automatic unmanned logistics spacecraft dedicated to supply the International Space Station (ISS) with scientific equipment and spare parts as well as air, food, and water for its permanent crew. In addition to the 5,5 tons of dry cargo located inside the 8 Racks, the ICC Kepler will also transport more than two tons of fuel for the Space Station re-boost. The cargo loading and unloading is executed from the ICC by the Station crewmembers, using Thales Alenia Space’s subsystems to control and monitor this operation.

Luigi Maria Quaglino, Thales Alenia Space Senior Vice President for Infrastructures and Transportation commented: “Thales Alenia Space is recognized as a state-of-the-art technology provider in the space transport and infrastructure field. The company already provides several spacecrafts to the ISS, such as ATV Jules Vernes’ ICC module, Node 2 and 3, three MPLMs as well as Columbus and Cupola modules. We are very proud that Turin was and remains the privileged centre of important up-to-date technologies related to the space field and, in particular, to the creation and utilization of the International Space Station”.

The habitable module, produced by Thales Alenia Space, consists in a pressurized cylinder of approximately 4.6 metres in diameter and 4 metres long, weighing 4 tons. It comprises an integrated docking system to the ISS on one side, and a refuelling system on the other. These two elements, adopted from currently operational Russian vehicles Progress and Soyuz, have been supplied by RSC-Energia.

Thales Alenia Space has played an essential role in the production of the ATV:

* Design and production of the ICC that includes the Water and Gas distribution systems as well as the provision of drinkable water according to US and Russian standards, the vehicle passive thermal protection system, the power-control unit and support for the integrated system tests. The company will participate in the final assembly and tests phase of the whole system in Europe and Kourou;
* Active participation in the operation stage of the mission both in the preparation and the in-orbit phases;
* Responsible for the development and the production of the Solar Array Drive Sub System, transferring the energy generated by the solar panels to the power system of ATV service module and allowing an optimal alignment of satellite's solar panels towards the sun;
* Supply of a four-unit PCU (Power Conditioning Units), like the one made for the ATV Jules Verne, to provide power to certain units of the ATV;
* Provision of the overall ATV’s Telemetry Tracking and Control (TT&C) communication equipments via NASA’s TDRSS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System);
* Contribution to perform ATV’s rendezvous and docking maneuvers providing the proximity link communications equipment between the ATV and the ISS.

About Thales Alenia Space
The European leader in satellite systems and a major player in orbital infrastructures, Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Finmeccanica (33%). Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio embody the two groups’ “Space Alliance”. Thales Alenia Space sets the global standard in solutions for space telecoms, radar and optical Earth observation, defense and security, navigation and science. The company, which achieved revenues of Euro 2 billion in 2008, has a total of 7,200 employees located in 11 industrial sites in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
www.thalesaleniaspace.com

Thales Alenia Space Press Contacts
Florence Pontieux - Tel: +33 (0)1 57 77 91 26 - florence.pontieux@thalesaleniaspace.com
Sandrine Bielecki - Tel: +33 (0)4 92 92 70 94 - sandrine.bielecki@thalesaleniaspace.com