The ''Edoardo Amaldi'' ATV, or

Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable automated cargo spacecraft, cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV desi ...

003 (ATV-003), was a European uncrewed

cargo spacecraft Uncrewed spacecraft or robotic spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input, such as remote control, or remote guidance. They may also be autonomous, in which the ...

, named after the 20th-century

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Edoardo Amaldi Edoardo Amaldi (5 September 1908 – 5 December 1989) was an Italian physicist. He coined the term "neutrino" in conversations with Enrico Fermi distinguishing it from the heavier "neutron". He has been described as "one of the leading nuclear p ...

. The spacecraft was launched by the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA) on 23 March 2012, on a mission to supply the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) with propellant, water, oxygen, and dry cargo. ''Edoardo Amaldi'' was the third ATV to be built, following ''Jules Verne'' (2008) and ''Johannes Kepler'' (2011). At the time of its launch, it was the world's largest single operational spacecraft, with a total launch mass of over . The ATV completed its mission successfully, and was deorbited on 3 October 2012, burning up in the Earth's atmosphere as planned.

Mission payload

: ''Source: ESA''"Information Kit: ATV Edoardo Amaldi" (PDF)
ESA. 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.

Amaldi letter

In addition to its primary cargo, the ATV carried a reproduction of a letter written by its namesake, Edoardo Amaldi, in 1958. This document, whose original is of significant historical value, reflects Amaldi's vision of a peaceful and non-military European space organisation – a blueprint for the real-life ESA.

Mission summary

ATV-3 departs from the International Space Station

Launch

''Edoardo Amaldi'' arrived at the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

Kourou Kourou (; ) is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

, in August 2011 to undergo pre-launch preparations. The spacecraft was mounted on an Ariane 5ES rocket, and was launched on 23 March 2012 by

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in March 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It operates two launch vehicles: Vega C, a Small-lift launch vehicle, small-lift rocket, and Ariane 6, a Medium-lift launch vehicl ...

on behalf of the

Docking

The ATV docked with the ISS on 28 March 2012, five days after its launch. In addition to resupplying the

Expedition 30 Expedition 30 was the 30th long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition's first three crew members – Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin – arrived on the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22 on ...

astronauts, ''Edoardo Amaldi'' used its thrusters to boost the station's altitude.

Deorbit

The ATV was initially planned to undock from the ISS on 25 September 2012. However, a command program error during the undocking procedure delayed the release, and ''Edoardo Amaldi'' did not actually undock until 21:44 GMT on 28 September."ATV-3 undocks from ISS"
ESA – ATV. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012. The spacecraft finally deorbited and performed a destructive

re-entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

over the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

on 3 October 2012, taking with it a payload of station waste.

ATV missions

References

External links

ESA – ATVESA – Edoardo Amaldi Fact Sheet (PDF)"ATV-3 docks to the ISS"
. BIS-Space.com. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:ATV-003 Automated Transfer Vehicles Spacecraft launched in 2012 Spacecraft which reentered in 2012 Supply vehicles for the International Space Station