With Robotic Cargo Ferry Launch, Europe Will Become an Official Supplier to the ISS now - Polidicks

[QUOTE]The ESA’s newest Automated Transfer Vehicle--ATV-2, otherwise known as Johannes Kepler--is loaded up and primed for its February 15th launch to the International Space Station, marking a several significant milestones for the European Space Agency and its contribution to ISS operations. Among those benchmarks, it marks the first “operational” flight for the ESA’s ATVs, the 200th launch aboard the European Ariane 5 rocket, and the heaviest load an Ariane 5 has ever hurled into orbit. ATV-2’s trip to the ISS isn’t technically the first cargo delivery made by the ESA to the ISS; that honor belongs to ATV-2’s predecessor, Jules Verne. But Jules Verne was a qualification flight (conducted in 2008) tasked with performing several technology demonstrations before docking with the ISS and delivering a small payload. ATV-2 is the real deal, headed straight for the ISS where it will deliver 7.5 tons of cargo, propellant, and oxygen to the crew there. It will also serve as a temporary ISS module; after docking with the station on February 26 it will hang around until June, providing extra space for the crew. It will also periodically burn some of that propellant in its own thrusters to raise the ISS’s orbit, offseting natural orbital decay caused by atmospheric drag. Toward the end of its tour, ATV-2 will become a giant orbital waste bin. Its tanks will be filled with liquid waste and its cargo space with solid waste bags and spent or unwanted hardware. It will then be undocked, de-orbited, and incinerated during re-entry. But perhaps the most significant milestone is the ESA’s official operational entry into the ISS’s re-supply chain. With the Space Shuttle program coming to an end, Russian Soyuz capsules and Progress rockets along with Japanese HTV-2 spacecraft—joined now by the European ATVs—will become the only means to ferry supplies from Earth to the ISS. You can follow Johannes Kepler’s progress via the ESA’s ATV blog.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-02/europe-will-become-official-supplier-iss-upcoming-robotic-cargo-ferry-launch[/url]

Awesome, waste-capsule :buddy:

Kick ass. Go ESA!

Is Europe a country now? Also, this is good. The more people working on space exploration, the better.

About damn time they started dragging their share.

This is great news. Reading this i started to think about futurama. I wonder why

About fucking time. Maybe in three decades they will put a person in orbit.

I say we drop the ISS and just go straight for Alpha Centauri.

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;27855993]About fucking time. Maybe in three decades they will put a person in orbit.[/QUOTE] Ariane V is currently under development for human spaceflight. ETA less than three decades.

[QUOTE=Jon27;27856202]Ariane V is currently under development for human spaceflight. ETA less than three decades.[/QUOTE] Stop the wars dammit and pool all resources into this!

are we the first ones to ever start slowly moving on to other planets and deeper into the space? or has there been going on some type of space colonization already by an unknown party? :raise:

Another Space Station would really give us something to aim for, without being too far out of our reach.

[QUOTE=Religous Nutjob;27856468]Another Space Station would really give us something to aim for, without being too far out of our reach.[/QUOTE] What's the point of another space station? For that matter, what's the point in attempting something easy?

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;27856326]are we the first ones to ever start slowly moving on to other planets and deeper into the space? or has there been going on some type of space colonization already by an unknown party? :raise:[/QUOTE] well you kinda messed up there how are we going to know if the party is unknown

[QUOTE=BANNED USER;27856276]Stop the wars dammit and pool all resources into this![/QUOTE] If only... :frown:

Space is our future, people need to get their heads out of their respective asses and realize that.

[QUOTE=TrulliLulli;27859065]well you kinda messed up there how are we going to know if the party is unknown[/QUOTE] Nazis on the moon obviously

[QUOTE=Raiskauskone V2;27859228]Nazis on the moon obviously[/QUOTE] [img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2023/1617952071_505abf2342.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=TrulliLulli;27859065]well you kinda messed up there how are we going to know if the party is unknown[/QUOTE] what? by we i mean the planet earth and humans altogether