PopSci's Best of What's New 2007

Aviation & Space
ESA/EADS Astrium Automated Transfer Vehicle

The space station’s delivery truck

With the space shuttle set to retire in 2010, the ATV, the largest automated space vehicle ever, arrives just in time to keep the International Space Station stocked. Using a star tracker and GPS to navigate to within 1,000 feet of the station, it will close the gap with pulsed laser beams reflected from the station that help it to calculate relative speed and distance. The 1,700-cubic-foot cargo ship, completed this year and set to launch next month, will dock with the station and remain an integral, pressurized part of it for up to six months. esa.int

OTHER WINNERS IN Aviation & Space

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	Vision Systems International Helmet-Mounted Display SUPER-VISION FOR FIGHTER PILOTS			NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy HAVE SCOPE, WILL TRAVEL
	Boeing EA-18G Growler A RADAR-JAMMING JET			ESA/EADS Astrium Automated Transfer Vehicle The space station’s delivery truck
	QinetiQ Zephyr MARATHON FLYER			Eclipse Concept Jet JETS GET PERSONAL
	Darpa Orbital Express A robotic handyman for satellite repair			V-22 Joint Program Office/Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey The tilt-rotor copter finally flies
	Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Gran Telescopio Canarias THE WORLD’s LARGEST TELESCOPE