ARV

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1008/27cargoreturn/

The European and Japanese space agencies are considering upgrades to outfit their robotic space station servicing spacecraft to return cargo to Earth, potentially laying the groundwork for crewed capsules by the 2020s.



Artist's concept of the Advanced Re-entry Vehicle. Credit: ESA
 
Officials expect decisions on the new spacecraft by next year.

Neither space agency has started development of a piloted spaceship, but both organizations have started designing re-entry vehicles that would bring supplies back to Earth. The ability to return cargo from the space station -- down-mass in space-speak -- will be severely curtailed once the space shuttle is retired next year.

The organizations are studying concepts to update the Automated Transfer Vehicle and H-2 Transfer Vehicle for roundtrip journeys to the International Space Station.

Both re-entry vehicles could debut by the end of this decade, giving the agencies a roundtrip transportation system capable of shepherding pressurized cargo, possibly including plants and small animals.

After delivering supplies and precious consumables, station residents currently load the ATV and HTV with trash for disposal as the craft burns up during re-entry.

The European Space Agency awarded a contract to EADS Astrium in July 2009 for an 18-month study of an Advanced Re-entry Vehicle. Worth 21 million euros, or $27 million at contemporary exchange rates, the contract covers Astrium analysis and studies of a beefed up capsule with a heat shield that could survive a fiery return to Earth and land in the ocean.

Astrium is the lead contractor on the ATV.

Engineers are scheduled to finish the 18-month Phase A study near the end of 2010, according to Simonetta Di Pippo, the director of ESA's human spaceflight programs.

"What I would like to do is to put on the table the Phase B approval at the end of this year," Di Pippo told Spaceflight Now.

The next phase of the project would fund a more detailed definition of the spacecraft's requirements and capabilities, building the foundation for formal design work to begin in about 2012.

The timetable hinges on the continued support of ESA member states at the next Ministerial Council meeting in late 2011, when the agency plans to propose full development of the ARV, Di Pippo said Thursday.

Member states approved the ARV studies in the last Ministerial Council in 2008. A severe financial and currency crisis has since forced many European governments to apply austerity measures, although space spending has not yet been significantly curtailed.

Di Pippo said the first launch of the ARV cargo carrier is planned for 2017 or 2018, slightly later than last year's announced target of 2016.

[Луноход]

[Salo]

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/space/files/policy/conferences_page/workshop_2_ec_esa_29_april_2010/sandrone.pdf

[Lev]

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100927-esa-vehicle-station-extension.html

ESA Re-entry Vehicle Tied to Station Extension[/size]
By Peter B. de Selding

    PRAGUE, Czech Republic — The European Space Agency (ESA) will be seeking the approval of is member states late this year to extend its participation in the international space station to 2020, a decision that will bind participating nations to preset budget contributions, ESA officials said Sept. 27.

    ESA officials hope to use their member governments' approval of a five-year extension to win endorsement for development of a reusable version of Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned freighter that delivers supplies to the station and reboosts the station's orbit before being filled with garbage and burned up on a controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

    If the station's service life is extended to 2020, the agency has a greater incentive to replace the Automated Transfer Vehicle with an Advanced Re-entry Vehicle (ARV) that would return cargo to Earth.

    ESA's space station director, Simonetta di Pippo, said none of the agency's delegations has voiced opposition to the five-year extension and that she is confident it will be approved. If that is the case, she said, the agency will propose to its governments to spend some 150 million euros ($200 million) on preparations for an ARV. Full development, which would cost considerably more, would then be proposed to ESA government ministers scheduled to meet sometime in 2012.

    Speaking to reporters here during the 61st International Astronautical Congress, di Pippo said a decision to develop ARV would be accompanied by the cancellation of the sixth and seventh Automated Transfer Vehicle. Money saved on building these vessels would offset some of the ARV development costs. A full ARV program approval in 2012 would permit the agency to begin flying the vehicle perhaps around 2017.

    ESA has agreed to repay NASA, the space station's general contractor, in services rather than cash in return for NASA's provision of the station's operating expenses, which among other things permits ESA's Columbus habitable module to function. Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo-delivery and station-reboost flights are part of that payment. ARV would take over that role.

    ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said here Sept. 27 that while he is confident that the five-year extension has the approval of all European nations participating in the station, he does not want a general agreement without specific guarantees on which nation will pay how much of the associated costs.

    For now, Germany, France and Italy pay the dominant share of ESA's space station expenses. These nations presumably will be asked to continue financing the project through 2020.

    "There is no objection to extending the station's operations to 2020," Dordain said. "What still needs to be decided is the cost, and the scale of contributions. I don't want an approval now without deciding this aspect as well. I hate decisions that are 'subject to availability of funds.' What we need to agree to now is the distribution of costs. That is the difficult part."

[Salo]

Europe's re-entry capsule to build upon ATV experience[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: September 29, 2010

PRAGUE -- European officials say developing a re-entry module for its conceptual two-way space station cargo freighter would best position the continent for future human spaceflight applications, but its realization will depend on budget decisions starting late this year.
 
The European Space Agency plans to request approval from its member states by the end of this year for continued participation in the International Space Station through 2020 and further development of an Advanced Re-Entry Vehicle.

Speaking at the 61st International Astronautical Congress here, top ESA officials described how the cash-strapped agency plans continue its involvement in the space station through at least 2020.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general, said he expects to receive the go-ahead for the space station life extension from the agency's member states by the end of 2010.

The governments of Russia and Japan have already approved the extra five years of life and the associated financial commitment. ESA, Canada and the United States are still awaiting formal confirmation.

Around the same time, ESA expects to ask for about 150 million euros, or about $200 million, for Phase B of the ARV, an upgraded version of Europe's logistics carrier that first flew in 2008.

Officials have not discussed the overall cost for development of the new spacecraft.

The two-year second phase of the ARV program would address definition of the spacecraft's requirements and capabilities before formal design and production kicks off in 2012.

Approval for Phase C and Phase D, the most costly part of any space development project, will have to wait for the next Ministerial Council meeting in 2012, said Simonetta Di Pippo, the director of ESA's human spaceflight programs.

ESA pays for access to the International Space Station through cargo delivery services by the Automated Transfer Vehicle. Five ATVs have been ordered from EADS Astrium to supply the complex through 2014, but Europe must provide additional vehicles to continue its presence on the station through 2020.

Europe could also build more ATVs for one-way resupply services, but officials say they want to develop a more capable system.

"I don't believe that's the way to go," Di Pippo said. "In the end, we want to use this new development on a longer-term (program) for the space station."

Instead of ordering more copies of the ATV, the agency is proposing development of the ARV with the ability to return supplies and pressurized equipment, a significant need for the station after next year's retirement of the space shuttle.

    
Diagrams of the ARV and crewed capsule atop an Ariane 5 rocket. Credit: ESA
 
The ARV would include a shielded capsule designed to withstand the heat of atmospheric re-entry and return cargo to Earth.

"What we want to do is reuse to the maximum extent possible (our experience) on ATV," Di Pippo said.

Astrium is currently wrapping up an 18-month Phase A study contract worth 21 million euros, or about $27 million.

The ARV could be ready for a demonstration flight by 2017 if ESA receives approval in 2012. Early requirements show it will carry at least 4,400 pounds of dry cargo to the station and return about 3,300 pounds.

Astrium's Phase A studies have identified several major upgrades required for the ATV system to support a return capsule bolted on the forward end of the spacecraft.

The ARV would be outfitted with ESA's new international docking and berthing mechanism, permitting it to dock with both the Russian and U.S. segments of the station. ATV missions are currently restricted to docking with the aft port of the Russian Zvezda service module.

Studies show the ATV's guidance and navigation systems can accomplish an approach and docking with the forward end of the complex, where space shuttles pull into port for their assembly and maintenance visits, according to Marco Caporicci, chief of human orbital transportation and the re-entry division in ESA's human spaceflight program.

"It was clear that the ATV service module doesn't provide sufficient support to the payload," Caporicci said in a presentation here.


The ARV would splash down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores and the Canary Islands. Credit: Astrium/ESA
 
Any future European cargo freighters need improved power generation systems and newer avionics to replace obsolete equipment on the ATV. A re-entry capsule will also require more electricity to power the spacecraft through landing, when sensitive equipment and biological samples need to be kept in pristine condition, according to Caporicci.

Larger solar array wings, a redesigned attitude control system, new rendezvous sensors, and an active cooling system are all included in the most basic ARV concept.

The ARV would target a splashdown landing in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores or the Canary Islands.

Engineers are also considering more radical redesigns of the ATV, utilizing a clean sheat approach that could be evolved to carry unpressurized cargo or astronauts, Caporicci said.

But Di Pippo said the best approach is to reuse as many ATV design elements as possible to keep costs manageable.

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2010/10/11/04.xml&headline=Europe%20Eyes%20ATV%20Upgrade

Europe Eyes ATV Upgrade[/size]

Oct 12, 2010

 By Michael A. Taverna

PARIS — Space managers in Europe say improvements contemplated for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the International Space Station (ISS) would sharply increase its cargo volume while offering a more realistic cost comparison with a proposed Advanced Reentry Vehicle (ARV) derivative.

Luigi Maria Quaglino, vice president for space infrastructure and transport at Thales Alenia Space, says engineers are working on modifications to the ATV's internal structure that would sharply boost its current 7-metric-ton dry cargo capacity. One factor driving the modifications, Quaglino says, is a possible reduction in the reboost capability of the ATV to enable NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services spacecraft to dock at a lower altitude, lowering the ATV's fuel-storage requirement.

Another, says Simona di Pippo, the European Space Agency's manned spaceflight director, is a planned improvement in the ISS's life-support system that would improve water recycling, reducing ATV water tankage requirements. The improvements would be adopted for ATV-3, -4 and -5, currently under construction.

These are separate from enhancements introduced in ATV-2, following a review of the first ATV flight in March 2008, or a midlife update (MLU) planned for a further pair of ATVs that could be acquired to meet ISS life-extension requirements. ATV-2 was recently cleared for launch on Feb. 15 (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 5).

The MLU would be necessary to change out electronics and other obsolescent parts, says Astrium's ATV program manager, Olivier de la Bourdonnaye. Planners are leaning toward replacing ATV-6 and -7 with the ARV, arguing that the ATV modifications would substantially reduce the cost differential between the two options.

[Lanista]

А куда европейцы планируют сажать свои капсулы?

[Salo]

См. выше:

The ARV would splash down in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores and the Canary Islands

[Lanista]

А, точно, спасибо!

[sol]

КО - Хреновое место для посадки - часто шторм и пакостная погода.
Сажать надо в Саргассово море

[Луноход]

[Salo]

http://germania-online.ru/nc/wissenschaft-bildung/nauka-i-obrazovanie-detal/datum////nemec-kepler-postrekochet-v-kosmose.html

"Кеплер" был создан европейским промышленным консорциумом, главным образом, в северогерманском Бремене. Этим проектом Европа как космическая держава внесет свой вклад в международные космические исследования.

Это единственный аппарат, кроме российского "Прогресса", способный осуществлять функции дозаправки, ориентации и коррекции орбиты. Правда, в отличие от американских шаттлов, он пока не способен возвращаться с собранным материалом на Землю. "Назрела необходимость усовершенствовать транспортер", – говорит Михаэль Менкинг, руководитель орбительных систем и исследований космоса в бременском концерне Astrium.

Эксперты считают, что для собственных пилотируемых полетов Европе хорошо бы в перспективе обзавестись двусторонним модулем грузового корабля Земля – МКС – Земля. Работа над ним уже началась: в Бремене полным ходом идут пилотные исследования.  Предполагается, что через несколько лет немецкое подразделение EADS разработает новый грузовик ARV (advanced Re-entry vehicle), способный возвращаться на Землю.

Если все пойдет по плану, пробный запуск усовершенствованного корабля состоится в 2017 году. Вполне возможно, что капсула будет приземляться с парашютом в районе Канарских островов, говорят в Бремене. В отдаленном будущем на основе ARV может быть создан возвращаемый корабль, который будет доставлять на лунные и марсианские орбиты тонны грузов, включая телескопы и даже межпланетные шаттлы.

14.03.2011

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1107/26mpcveurope/index.html

According to Reiter, engineers are completing studies of a hardened version of the ATV to bring equipment from the space station back to Earth. Once the studies are finished, Reiter said the Advanced Re-entry Vehicle concept will go into a dormant mode.

"После изучения проект ARV переведут в спящий режим."

[Petrovich]

"После изучения проект ARV переведут в спящий режим."

Нда-а... Не придется мне модель Ариан-5 делать... :cry: