In May 2011 the ESA director general announced a possible collaboration with NASA to work on a successor to the ATV. Later that year, a proposal to utilise an ATV derived service module for NASA's Orion capsule was revealed. This service module would be provided as barter for the ESA's 8% share of the operating expense of the ISS, which had been fulfilled up to 2017 by the five ATVs. Developing a service module for Orion would cover the ESA's share of ISS operation up to 2020.