Monthly Archives: March 2011

Update: ISS refuelling planned for 17-19 May

Didier Collin, Flight Director at ATV-CC, and Jean-Michel Bois (at rear), Mission Director (C) and Credit: CNES/S.Girard 2011

Didier Collin, Flight Director at ATV-CC, and Jean-Michel Bois (at rear), Mission Director (C) and Credit: CNES/S.Girard 2011

In mid-May, ATV Johannes Kepler is scheduled to conduct the first refuelling of the ISS. The transfer of propellant from Kepler to the ISS is split into five steps. The first took place on 18 February with a check of the electronics and systems used for the refuelling.

On the 22 March, mission controllers at ATV-CC conducted leak tests - see our earlier post below - to confirm that the fuel line connections between ATV and the ISS were sealed.

The final three steps - including the actual transfer of fuel - are planned for the 17-19 May. Here are a few more interesting details on the 22 March leak tests, courtesy of our colleagues at le blog de l'ATV-2 at CNES.

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JAXA’s HTV2 mission ends

Kounotori reentry

Kounotori reentry

The Japanese HTV-2 cargo vessel Kounotori was successfully unberthed from the ISS at 17:43 CEST on Monday and was released from the Canadian robot arm a couple hours later for its free-flight deorbit manoeuvres (three burns).

HTV2 re-entered the atmosphere at an estimated altitude of 120 km, and Jaxa reckons the vessel's remains hit the ocean between 17:21 and 17:41 CEST on Tuesday. The HTV2 successfully accomplished the main objective of shipping cargo to the International Space Station, and completed all of its missions over 67 days.

More via JAXA

Next ISS visitor? Soyuz TMA-21/26S set for launch on 4 April and docking on 6 April with astros A. Borisenko, R. Garan and A. Samokutayev on board.

Refuelling the ISS: Everything tight and good to go

The team at ATV-CC emailed earlier to confirm that today's Refuelling System (RFS) check went well. ESA's Mission Director Mike Steinkopf wrote:

This morning we had the RFS leak check in anticipation of the ISS refuelling planned for mid-May. The leak check is a prerequisite for the actual propellant transfer. The leak check included verification that there was no leakage in the fuel lines interconnecting ATV with the ISS. The connection was established during the night from 02:00 CET to 09:00 CET; the leak check itself ran about 5 hours. The results showed a 'nominal' status, with no leakage detected.

ATV Johannes Kepler is carrying about 850.6 l of fuel for the ISS. Mike added that controllers at MCC-M confirmed that ATV is ready for the actual propellant support (= refuelling the Station).

Where do you find Astro_Paolo?

Where do you find @astro_paolo - with @richardbranson, @snoopdogg, @marthastewart, @julianperreta + more? In the new #Twitter video, of course! Today's update is slightly off-topic but waaaay cool - we just had to share it!

O2 transfer complete

Interior of the ATV simulator showing the vessel in "in-flight" configuration

Just in from Mike Steinkopf, ESA mission director at ATV-CC: O2 transfer to the ISS ended at 19:08 CET: 'transfer was successful'. The gas delivery ran for about 3 hours. Mike adds: "In the meantime, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli finished today's planned cargo transfer to ISS." More details on this via NASA:

While the (O2) repress(urization) was going on, astronauts Coleman & Nespoli performed cargo transfer activities in ATV. These included:

  • TSR (Temporary Stowage Rack) deployment
  • Removal of large stowage bags (M-Bags) from the rack front and stowing them temporarily out of the way
  • Retrieving a delivered RFTA (Recycle Filter Tank Assembly) & transferring it to the PMM for stowage
  • Removing two adapter plates to access rack cargo

Special attention was given to the location of a CTB (Cargo Transfer Bag) with ESA's FSL (Fluid Science Laboratory) experiment 'Geoflow', which will be set up tomorrow.

Gas-ing up the ISS – Part 2

It's a busy day for ATV Johannes Kepler, the astronauts on board the ISS and the mission controllers at ATV-CC in Toulouse!

After this morning's reboost, which gave the ISS an extra push of about 2.1 m/s and was overseen by ATV-CC, the crew have now started the second O2 (Oxygen) transfer to the ISS. The valve on the gas control panel was opened about an hour ago at 16:52 CET, and the gas is now flowing into ATV and from there it will be distributed via the inter-module ventilation system to the rest of ISS.

"This transfer is expected to increase the overall ISS air pressure by 5mm Hg and is scheduled to last about three hours and transfer about 8kg of oxygen to the ISS. For crew, this means a bit of 'fresh air' on board Station," says ESA's Mike Steinkopf, sitting in the mission director's console position this afternoon at ATV-CC.

There will also be a dry cargo transfer today, and we'll get more details on that activity later.

Reboost report: ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle

ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle at ATV-CC on docking day, 24 Feb 2011

ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle at ATV-CC on docking day, 24 Feb 2011

We just spoke on the telephone with ESA's lead mission director at ATV-CC, Kris Capelle, who reports that this morning's reboost went very well. The manoeuvre began at 07:00 CET and ran for about 882 seconds. ESA's Jean Christophe Ronnet was on console in the main control room for the reboost, and he's now been replaced by Mike Steinkopf, who will monitor today's cargo activities. Listen to a (telephone-quality) mp3 audio recording below.

Can't hear the mp3 above? Download original file here.

ATV2 Reboost plan via NASA

ATV2 Reboost: A one-burn reboost of ISS is scheduled today at 2:00 EDT (07:00 CET) using the ATV OCS (orbital control system) thrusters. Planned burn duration: 14 min 43 sec; delta-V (increase in velocity): 2.16 m/s (7.09 ft/s). Expected mean altitude gain: 3.7 km (2 nmi). Purpose: Set up phasing for the Soyuz 26S and ULF6 launches.

Via NASA - ISS on-orbit status 17 March

ATV control centre: video conference with students for UK science week

ESA's Adam Williams in video conference with UK school

ESA's Adam Williams in video conference with UK school

(updated 18.3) This morning, ESA's Adam Williams, one of the mission directors at ATV-CC in Toulouse, conducted a Q&A video conference with almost 400 very enthusiastic 7- to 11-year-old students at Preistmead Primary School, Harrow, near London, UK. The call went very well! "They were brilliant - and they asked a lot of very good questions," he said. The questions ranged from "How do you become an astronaut?" to "How high is the ISS?" and "How did the world and the solar system begin?" Adam remarked that it was great to communicate live from ATV Control Centre with such a keen group of young space enthusiasts.

The call coincided with UK Science & Engineering Week, sponsored by the British Science Association, comprising a 10-day programme of around 3,500 events running throughout the whole of the UK with the aim of celebrating science, engineering and technology. Some nice photos are below, courtesy of our colleagues at CNES's Blog de l'ATV.

Editor's note: We'd love to hear from Priestmead school with any photos, video clips or reactions!

ESA's Adam Williams in video conference with UK school

ESA's Adam Williams in video conference with UK school

ESA's Adam Williams in video conference with UK school

ESA's Adam Williams in video conference with UK school

Image credit: Prodigima Films 2011 pour le CNES

Update on ATV reboost for ISS 18 March

The reboost provided by ATV's thrusters and planned for tomorrow, 18 March, is now set for 2.2 m/second - meaning the International Space Station will increase its orbital speed by this amount. This is a little fast, but still slower than a typical walking speed. This boost will also increase the ISS altitude by about 4 km (it's now at 360.8 km). The burn will use about 340 kg of fuel. More details to follow.