From a Space Truck to a Space Garbage Disposal System, from an ISS supplier to an ISS sustainer— the robustness, size and cutting-edge technologies of the ATV are so remarkable that Jules Verne could easily usher in what may be termed Revolution in Space Affairs.

April 3, 1445 hours GMT. Jules Verne docks with the International Space Station (ISS)— unmanned, on automated mode and dot on schedule, creating history as the first of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV). On March 9, riding on the mighty shoulders of a special version of Europe’s workhorse launcher, the Ariane 5ES rocket, it was successfully launched into space. Spewing a fiery trail in the night sky, the lift-off occurred at 0103 hours (local time) from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Specially adapted to the task of lofting the nearly 20-tonne vehicle—more than twice as heavy as the previous largest Ariane 5 payload—the rocket put the ATV in a preplanned low circular orbit 260 km above the earth, inclined at 51.6 degrees relative to the Equator.

Named after the celebrated 19th century French visionary and author, the Jules Verne ATV is the largest and most sophisticated spacecraft ever developed in Europe. But that was not the reason it created space history. Jules Verne is the very first spacecraft in the world designed to combine the functions of an autonomous free-flying platform, a manoeuvrable space vehicle and a space station module. It is also equipped with the capability to conduct automated docking in full compliance with the very tight safety constraints imposed by human spaceflight operations. About 10 m high with a diameter of 4.5 m and weighing 19,357 kg at launch, the ATV incorporates a 45 cubic metre module, derived from the Columbus pressure shell, and a Russian-built docking system, similar to those used on Soyuz manned ferries and on the Progress resupply ship. About three times larger than its Russian counterpart, it can also deliver about three times more cargo.

A day after the launch, with the ATV coursing in the low earth orbit (LEO), the mission came close to being a cropper when an electronic fault sent the entire propulsion system crashing. An overnight recovery operation later, scientists and engineers at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France managed to restore the vehicle’s propulsion system to full robustness, enabling, once again, full failure tolerance.