FW: Europe’s automated ship docks to the ISS

[LARRY KLAES]

>From: "ESA" <contactesa at esa.int>
>Reply-To: ContactESA at esa.int
>Subject: Europe’s automated ship docks to the ISS
>Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:22:08 +0200
>
>N°20-2008 – Paris, 3 April 2008
>
>Europe’s automated ship docks to the ISS
>
>The ATV Jules Verne, European Space Agency’s first resupply and reboost 
>vehicle, has successfully performed a fully automated docking with the 
>International Space Station (ISS). This docking marks the beginning of the 
>Jules Verne’s main servicing mission to deliver cargo, propellant, water, 
>oxygen and propulsion capacity to the Station, as well as ESA’s entry into 
>the restricted club of the partners able to access the orbital facility by 
>their own means.
>
>The 19-ton unmanned spaceship manoeuvred from a holding position 39 km 
>behind the 275-ton space outpost and conducted a 4-hour staged approach 
>with several stops at reference points for checks. It autonomously computed 
>its own position through relative GPS (comparison between data collected by 
>GPS receivers both on the ATV and the ISS) and in close range it used 
>videometers pointed at laser retroreflectors on the ISS to determine its 
>distance and orientation relative to its target. Final approach was at a 
>relative velocity of 7 cm/s and with an accuracy of less than 10 cm, while 
>both the ATV and the ISS were orbiting at about 28000 km/h, some 340 km 
>above the Eastern Mediterranean. The ATV Jules Verne’s docking probe was 
>captured by the docking cone at the aft end of Russia’s Zvezda module at 
>16:45  CEST (14:45 GMT). Docking was completed with hooks closing at 16:52 
>CEST (14:52 GMT).
>
>First automated docking
>
>This is the very first time in Europe that an automated docking is 
>performed in due respect of the very tight safety constraints imposed by 
>manned spaceflight operations. All the approach and docking phase was 
>piloted by the ATV’s onboard computers under close monitoring by the teams 
>of ESA, CNES (the French Space agency) and Astrium (the prime contractor) 
>at the ATV Control Centre at CNES Toulouse, France, as well as the ISS crew 
>inside the Zvezda module. In case of anomaly, both ends could trigger 
>pre-programmed manoeuvres to hold position, retreat to the previous 
>reference point or escape to a safe distance.
>
>The ATV’s behaviour was also under surveillance from its own independent 
>Monitoring & Safing Unit (MSU), which uses a separate set of sensors and 
>computers to check that the approach manoeuvre is conducted safely. In case 
>of major anomaly, the MSU would have been able to take over the commands 
>and order a Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre (CAM) through dedicated avionics 
>chains and thrusters.
>
>As all operations went smoothly, none of these safety manoeuvres was 
>required during this afternoon’s approach and docking.
>
>The ATV Jules Verne was launched by an Ariane 5 from Europe’s spaceport in 
>Kourou, French Guiana, on 9 March. Three days later, it successfully 
>demonstrated its autonomous CAM capability and was cleared for ISS 
>proximity operations. The spaceship then moved to a parking orbit for the 
>duration of space shuttle Endeavour’s visit to the ISS. On March 29 and 31 
>it conducted two rehearsals of today’s docking, approaching at 11 m from 
>the Station.
>
>New delivery service
>
>Now that it is docked, the ATV Jules Verne will become an additional module 
>of the ISS for about four months. The astronauts will enter its pressurized 
>cargo module and retrieve 1,150 kg of dry cargo, including food, clothes 
>and equipment as well as two original manuscripts handwritten by Jules 
>Verne and a XIXth century illustrated edition of his novel “From the Earth 
>to the Moon”. In addition, they will pump 856 kg of propellant, 270 kg of 
>drinking water and 21 kg of oxygen into Zvezda’s tanks.
>
>The ATV can carry about three times as much payload as Russia’s Progress 
>freighters but on this mission, most of it is actually propellant to be 
>used by the ATV’s own propulsion system for periodical manoeuvres to 
>increase the altitude of the ISS in order to compensate its natural decay 
>caused by atmospheric drag. If required, the ATV will also be able to 
>provide redundant attitude control to the ISS or even perform evasive 
>manoeuvres to move the Station out of the way of potentially dangerous 
>space debris. The first of ATV Jules Verne’s reboost manoeuvres is 
>currently scheduled on April 21.
>
>"The ATV is so much more than a simple delivery truck, it is an intelligent 
>and versatile spaceship which has just demonstrated its extraordinary 
>skills,” said Daniel Sacotte, ESA’s Director for Human Spaceflight, 
>Microgravity and Exploration. “It is the largest and most complex 
>spacecraft ever developed in Europe and the second in size of all the 
>vehicle’s visiting the Station, after NASA’s space shuttle. With Columbus 
>and the ATV, we have entered the major league of the ISS."
>
>"The docking of the ATV is a new and spectacular step in the demonstration 
>of European capabilities on the international scene of space exploration 
>”said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General. “This fantastic step is 
>in first instance the result of collective work in Europe, including ESA 
>Member States, industry under Astrium as prime contractor, CNES and ESA 
>staff as well as among ISS partners, in particular the USA and Russia. We 
>shall now reap the benefits of such investments after the launch of ESA’s 
>Columbus laboratory, first in utilizing the unique capabilities of the ISS 
>and secondly in preparing for the exploration of the Solar System”. Now 
>that the ATV is "up and running", I am happy to announce that in the next 
>few weeks ESA will launch a recruitment campaign  to hire new European 
>astronauts"
>
>For further information:
>ESA Media Relations Office
>Communication and Knowledge Department
>Tel: + 33 1 5369 7299
>Fax: + 33 1 5369 7690
>