Selection of Switzerland’s proposal to name the next European automatic space transfer vehicle Albert Einstein
Bern, 26.05.2011 - The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected Switzerland’s proposal to name Europe’s 4th Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) after Albert Einstein. The ATV ensures regular cargo deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS).
The ATV spacecrafts, key to the International Space Station's logistics and operations, are the embodiment of Europe's capability in space infrastructure for human spaceflight and space exploration. These ATVs are the most complex spacecrafts ever developed in Europe and feature several new technologies enabling for example, autonomous rendezvous and docking.
The high levels of development and innovation attained through science and technology in Europe over the centuries are a direct result of the vision, drive, ingenuity and efforts of its intellectuals, scientists and industries. It is therefore highly appropriate to name the ATV-4 after the famous physicist Albert Einstein, whose contributions to mankind, and to the world of science in particular, overturned the existing conception that scientists had of the Universe. To date, many space missions, in particular the Hubble Space Telescope, contribute key observations to the understanding of the origin, evolution and fate of the Universe. Albert Einstein had spent his early career in Switzerland, studying and working in Bern and Zurich, before moving back to Germany and later to the United States. He received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.
The development and operations of the ATV spacecrafts are the pride of ESA and its Member States. The spacecraft structure is developed and manufactured by Swiss industry. The technological innovations and successes embodied by the ATVs have been matched with the names of great European scientists and visionary intellectuals: the 1st ATV was named after Jules Verne, the 2nd after Johannes Kepler and the 3rd after Edoardo Amaldi.
ESA's decision to make the ATV-4 the namesake of Albert Einstein reinforces the message that Europe's role in human spaceflight and exploration - a driver for technological innovation, scientific excellence and inspiration for future generations - is deeply rooted in its tradition of science and technological excellence coupled with humanistic and societal values.
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State Secretariat for Education and Research SER
Kamlesh Brocard, Communication Swiss Space Office
Hallwylstrasse 4
3003 Berne
Tel. +41 31 325 14 87
kamlesh.brocard@sbf.admin.ch
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