The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is a European Space Agency (ESA) servicing and logistics transportation system for the periodic re-supply of the International Space Station (ISS). The ATV will be launched by Ariane 5 and will provide the following services to the ISS:
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refuelling of the ISS (transfer of fuel from ATV to the station),
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reboost of the ISS (increasing the station’s orbit altitude, using the ATV’s propulsion system),
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delivery of cargo such as compressed air, water and pressurised payloads to the station,
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destruction of waste from the station.
The ATV is composed of the so-called Spacecraft (SC) and an Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC). The Spacecraft includes the propulsion, reboost and attitude control systems, the avionics and the solar generator system. The Integrated Cargo Carrier consists of an unpressurised module which contains water, gas and refuelling tanks, a pressurised module derived from the Mini-Pressurised Logistics Module (MPLM) for pressurised cargoes and a Russian Docking System (RDS) allowing the docking to the station and crew access to the pressurised module.
After launch, the ATV has a free flight phase composed of a phasing on a circular orbit, followed by a rendezvous with the station. After docking, the ATV can remain attached to the station for up to six months. During this period, the ATV is in dormant mode except during Intravehicular Activities (IVA) operations and reboost phases. After six months, the ATV will separate from the station and will disintegrate upon re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere.
This paper presents the ATV thermal control concept defined during the PDR campaign taking into account the environmental conditions, flight attitudes and electrical power constraints as well as the operating modes, where the operational conditions differ extremely from fully active mode in free flight condition to dormant mode, most of the equipment is switched off during docking). It also presents the verification and qualification logic based on two Thermal Balance Tests (TBT) performed with the Structural Test Model (STM) and the Proto- Flight Model (PFM) respectively.