The European Space Agency (ESA) is building a new fleet of spacecraft to help get supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). The Automatic Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will be put into use in 2007.

The new ATVs are about the size of a double-decker bus. They have the shape of a large cylinder, are about 32 feet long and almost 17 feet wide. They have usable cargo space of 45 cubic meters and weigh 45,745 pounds (35% will be cargo weight). They have 4 solar arrays that can be turned toward the sun. They have Russian-built docking mechanisms which means they will have to dock at the aft (axial) port of the Russian Zvezda module. Containers have to fit through the standard Russian circular hatches of 31.5 inches. (The U.S. side has circular ports measuring 51 inches for larger, refrigerator-sized racks of scientific apparatus).

ESA plans to fly one ATV mission per year and has plans to build seven spacecraft. They will be launched aboard Ariane 5 boosters from the space center at Kourou, French Guyana in South America. The first ATV is named “Jules Verne” and will be launched in May 2007. It will spend a week in orbit before docking to “test” its maneuverability in space.