This photo series highlights the integration process for ATV Johannes Kepler inside the Ariane 5’s Final Assembly Building. At left, the 10-meter-tall cargo spacecraft is raised from the facility’s payload preparation area by an overhead crane. In the three photos at right, the ATV is lowered into position atop its Ariane 5 ES launcher.
In the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building, an Ariane 5 ES vehicle has been equipped with the number 2 Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to be orbited by Arianespace for a February 15 liftoff.
With a total mass of over 20 metric tons, this flight’s payload will be the largest ever orbited by Ariane 5. The cargo spacecraft is named after German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, and is the first operational ATV. It follows the qualification flight of ATV Jules Verne, launched by an Ariane 5 in March 2008.
Developed for the European Space Agency, the ATV Johannes Kepler has been loaded with more than 7 metric tons of payload including 4,534 kg. of propellant to be used in International Space Station’s attitude control system, and for the crewed facility’s altitude re-boost operations. Also carried by the ATV is nearly 1,600 kg. of dry cargo and 100 kg. of oxygen to be used aboard the station.
The flight will mark the historic 200th flight of an Ariane family vehicle, continuing a legacy that began with the maiden launch of an Ariane 1 version in December 1979.
In parallel, the Ariane 5 for Arianespace’s second flight of 2011 is taking shape in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building, where it will be used to loft a dual payload of the Yahsat 1A and Intelsat New Dawn telecommunications satellites.
This Ariane 5’s core cryogenic stage has been erected over one of two operational mobile launch tables used for the heavy-lift vehicle. The two large solid propellant boosters will then be mated with the core stage, followed by installation of the launcher’s cryogenic upper stage and vehicle equipment bay.
After its deployment by Ariane 5, the Yahsat 1A satellite is to provide services for both government and commercial customers in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Southwest Asia – delivering innovative solutions for Internet links via satellite, along with business data network and television transmission services.
The Ariane 5’s Intelsat New Dawn payload has been designed for voice, wireless backhaul, Internet and media applications services. When operational at an orbital position of 32.9 deg. East, its footprint is configured for coverage over Europe, the Middle East, Africa and sub-Saharan regions.
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