ESA decides ATV-2 is called Johannes Kepler

by | Feb 19, 2009 | ESA, International Space Station | 2 comments

The European Space Agency has announced that the second of its five planned Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) resuppy spacecraft for the International Space Station (ISS) will be named Johannes Kepler

This was a bit of a surprise as I had been told that after ATV-1, which was named Jules Verne, the agency would stick to science fiction authors and I didn’t think that Kepler wrote fiction. While I thought H G Wells or Arthur C Clarke unlikely for ATV-2 I did wonder if Germany’s Kurd Lasswitz would be chosen. But Kepler apparently was a bit of an author and wrote the Somnium, which is regarded as science fiction

So, with that ATV-2 naming guess entirely wrong, it is time to speculate widely about ATV-3I am assuming here that the next ATV will be named after an Italian. They already have the Columbus laboratory so that name can be ignored. And the three multi-purpose logistics modules taken by NASA’s Space Shuttle to the ISS have the names Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello, so I think we can safely say they are also unlikely

Having said that I am going to opt for Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli as his discovery of the “canali” on Mars triggered a lot of interest in Mars and whether there was life on the red planet

Come on ESA prove me wrong, again

About Seradata

Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacechinavideoFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosevaspacewalkDGABlue Originaviation weekInternational Space StationRocket LabaresIGTsoyuzBeidouawardsStarlinkAirbus DSboeingspaceSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonOneWebISROCargo Return VehiclemarsblogresearchspaceshiptwoorionjaxamarsimpactEutelsatdelayhyperbolademocratrocketlunarhypertextthales alenia spaceSESobamagoogle lunar prizelaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresnorthspaceflightIntelsatnode 2fundedElon MuskLockheed MartinRaymond Lygo2009Express MD-2Atlas Vromedassault aviationss2sstl2008wk2aviationLucyradiouksuborbitalVirgin Orbittestmissiledocking portexplorationSLSAriane 5 ECAinternetLong March 2D/2China Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5Northrop GrummanElectronmissile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Long March 4CspaceportExpress AMU 1buildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1ashuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesAriane 6Intelsat 23space shuttleLauncherOneEuropean Space AgencyCosmoshanleybudgetrulesnew yorkLong March 2CInmarsatnew shepardVietnamatvshenzhoucongressMojaveboldenOrbital ATKcnesUS Air ForceGuiana Space Centerlunar landeriacApollolawsSpace Systems/LorallaunchesUK Space AgencyLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AkscElectron KSILSdarpaprotonTalulah RileyVega CFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5North KoreaeuSkylonAstriumlanderbaseusaastronautdragonpicturefiveeventTelesatSpace InsuranceSSLEchostarAprilSNC50thfalconWednesdaySea LaunchLong MarchinterviewViasat

Stay Informed with Seradata

Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.