Navigation Sensors Architecture for the Automated Transfer Vehicle

Abstract

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is a European Space Agency (ESA) funded unmanned spacecraft designed and developed by several European aerospace companies in the frame of the International Space Station (ISS). Its function is threefold: to supply the station with fret and propellant, to reboost ISS to a viable orbit and to retrieve waste from the station and bum them down during ATV re-entry in atmosphere. The ATV will be the first European space vehicle to perform an orbital rendezvous. To fulfill its mission, it relies on a complex avionics architecture (gyro assembly, star tracker, GPS, rendezvous sensors and accelerometers) that is designed to sustain stringent launch environment and to provide measurements in order to perform various missions such as ATV stabilization, collision avoidance maneuver (to ensure ISS safety), autonomous docking to ISS, dedocking and re-entry.