H-II Transfer Vehicle
Encyclopedia
| Description | |
|---|---|
| Role: | Unmanned spacecraft intended to resupply the Kibō Japanese Experiment Module Japanese Experiment Module The Japanese Experiment Module , also known with the nickname , is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on space shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124... on the International Space Station International Space Station The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes... and, if necessary, the rest of the station. |
| Crew: | Unmanned |
| Dimensions | |
| Height: | 10 m (including thrusters) |
| Diameter: | 4.4 m |
| Spacecraft weight: | 10,500 kg |
| Total Launch Payload: | 6,000 kg |
| Pressurized Payload: | 5,200 kg |
| Unpressurized Payload: | 1,500 kg |
| Return Payload: | None |
| Mass at launch: | 16.5 ton |
| Pressurized Volume: | |
| Performance | |
| Endurance: | Solo flight about 100 hours, stand-by more than a week, docked with the ISS about 30 days |
| Apogee: | 460 km |
| Perigee: | 350 km |
| Inclination: | 51.6 degrees |
The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), called , is an unmanned resupply spacecraft
Unmanned resupply spacecraft
Unmanned resupply spacecraft are a special kind of robotic spacecraft that operate autonomously without a human crew, designed to support space station operation...
used to resupply the Kibō Japanese Experiment Module
Japanese Experiment Module
The Japanese Experiment Module , also known with the nickname , is a Japanese science module for the International Space Station developed by JAXA. It is the largest single ISS module. The first two pieces of the module were launched on space shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-124...
(JEM) and the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(ISS). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
The , or JAXA, is Japan's national aerospace agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on October 1, 2003, as an Independent Administrative Institution administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the...
(JAXA) has been working on the design since the early 1990s. The first mission, HTV-1
HTV-1
HTV-1, also known as the HTV Demonstration Flight or HTV Technical Demonstration Vehicle, was the first Japanese Space Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle, launched in September 2009 to resupply the International Space Station and support the JAXA Kibo laboratory or JEM...
, was originally intended to be launched in 2001. It launched at 17:01 UTC on 10 September 2009 on an H-IIB
H-IIB
H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan...
launch vehicle. The name Kounotori was chosen for the HTV by JAXA because "a white stork carries an image of conveying an important thing (a baby, happiness, and other joyful things), therefore, it precisely expresses the HTV's mission to transport essential materials to the ISS".
Design
The HTV is about 10 m long (including maneuvering thrusters at one end) and 4.4 m in diameter. Total mass is 10.5 tonnes, with a 6000 kilograms (13,227.7 lb) payload.The HTV are comparable in function to the Russian Progress
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
, European
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
ATV
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...
, commercial Dragon, and commercial Cygnus
Cygnus spacecraft
The Cygnus spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft being developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Thales Alenia Space as part of NASA's COTS project. It is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station after the retirement of the Space Shuttle...
spacecraft, all of which bring or are planned to bring supplies to the ISS. Like the ATV, the HTV carries more than twice the payload of the Progress, but is launched less than half as often. Unlike Progress capsules and ATVs, which dock automatically, HTVs and commercial craft approach the ISS in stages, and are signaled by ISS crew or ground control to continue from one holding point to the next. Once they reach their closest parking orbit to the ISS, crew grip them using the robotic arm Canadarm2 and berth them to an empty berthing port on the Harmony module.
The HTV has an external payload bay which is accessed by robotic arm after it has been berthed to the ISS. New payloads can be moved directly from the HTV to Kibō
Kibo
Kibo may refer to:*Kibo , Japanese Experiment Module , component of the International Space Station*Kibo , volcanic cone forming the main summit of Mount Kilimanjaro...
s exposed facility. Internally, it has eight International Standard Payload Racks (ISPRs) in total which can be unloaded by the crew in a shirt-sleeve environment
Shirt-sleeve environment
Shirt-sleeve environment is a term used in aircraft design to describe the interior of an aircraft in which no special clothing need be worn. Early aircraft had no internal pressurization, so the crews of those that reached the stratosphere had to be garbed to withstand the low temperature and...
. After the retirement of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
in 2011, HTVs is the only vehicle that can carry ISPRs to the ISS.
The baseline configuration, known as the "Mixed Logistics Carrier", uses one pressurized and one unpressurized segment and can carry 7,600 kg of cargo in total and is 9.2 m long. When two pressurized units are used together the cargo decreases slightly to about 7,000 kg, and the overall length is reduced to 7.4 m.
To control the HTV's attitude and to perform the orbital maneuvers such as rendezvous and re-entry, the craft has four 500 N class main thrusters and twenty-eight 110 N class attitude control thrusters. Both use bipropellant, namely monomethylhydrazine
Monomethylhydrazine
Monomethylhydrazine is a volatile hydrazine chemical with the chemical formula CH3 NH2. It is used as a rocket propellant in bipropellant rocket engines because it is hypergolic with various oxidizers such as nitrogen tetroxide and nitric acid...
(MMH) as fuel and mixed oxides of nitrogen
Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen
Mixed oxides of nitrogen are solutions of nitric oxide in dinitrogen tetroxide/nitrogen dioxide . It may be used as an oxidizing agent in rocket propulsion systems. A broad range of compositions is available, and can be denoted as MONi, where i represents the percentage of nitric oxide in the...
(MON3) as oxidizer. Both types of thrusters are manufactured by Aerojet
Aerojet
Aerojet is an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange, Gainesville and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet is owned by GenCorp. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket...
, the 110 N the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
's R-1E vernier engine and the 500 N based on the Apollo spacecraft
Apollo spacecraft
The Apollo spacecraft was composed of five combined parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth...
's R-4D. The HTV carries about 2400 kg of propellant in four tanks.
After the unloading process is completed, the HTV will be loaded with waste and undocked. The vehicle will then deorbit and be destroyed during reentry, the debris falling into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
HTV-R
As of 2010, JAXA is planning to add a return capsule option. HTV's Pressurizied Cargo is replaced by a reentry module capable of returning 1.6 tonne cargo from ISS to Earth.It is expected to be launched by 2017.
Flights
The first vehicle was launched on an H-IIBH-IIB
H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan...
rocket, a more powerful version of the earlier H-IIA
H-IIA
H-IIA is an active expendable launch system operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency . The liquid-fueled H-IIA rockets have been used to launch satellites into geostationary orbit, to launch a lunar orbiting spacecraft, and to launch an interplanetary...
, at 17:01 GMT on 10 September 2009, from Launch Pad 2 of the Yoshinobu Launch Complex
Yoshinobu Launch Complex
The Yoshinobu Launch Complex, also known as Launch Area Y, Area Y or LA-Y, is a launch complex at the Tanegashima Space Centre, used by the H-II and H-IIA carrier rockets. The complex is also used by the H-IIB, which was first launched on 10 September 2009...
at the Tanegashima Space Center
Tanegashima Space Center
The is one of Japan's space development facilities. It is located on Tanegashima, an island located 115 km south of Kyūshū. It was established in 1969 when the National Space Development Agency of Japan was formed...
. Six subsequent missions are planned.
| HTV | Launch date/time | Carrier rocket | Re-entry date/time |
|---|---|---|---|
| HTV-1 HTV-1 HTV-1, also known as the HTV Demonstration Flight or HTV Technical Demonstration Vehicle, was the first Japanese Space Agency H-II Transfer Vehicle, launched in September 2009 to resupply the International Space Station and support the JAXA Kibo laboratory or JEM... |
10 September 2009, 17:01 (UTC) | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... F1 |
1 November 2009, 21:26 (UTC) |
| HTV-2 | 22 January 2011, 05:37:57 (UTC) | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... F2 |
30 March 2011, 03:09 (UTC) |
| HTV-3 | TBA | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... |
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| HTV-4 | Nov-Dec 2012 | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... |
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| HTV-5 | Sep-Nov 2013 | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... |
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| HTV-6 | 2014 | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... |
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| HTV-7 | 2015 | H-IIB H-IIB H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan... |