Monthly Archives: October 2011

Space Station reboost: the inside story

UPDATE 12.02.2013

Just heard from NASA astro Mike Fossum! This video was, indeed, shot during a reboost provided by our very own ATV-2.

One of the crucial tasks of all ATVs is Station reboosting. Here's a very interesting and fun-scientific video that shows what it's like to be inside the ISS when it's being accelerated - in this case, not by ATV but it's the same effect. The Station accelerates forward while the astronauts - who are in free-flight orbit around Earth (albeit in side the station) - drift backwards, relative to the Station. Newton was really right!

Caption from ReelNASA: As the International Space Station is boosted into a higher orbit, Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov float freely to demonstrate the acceleration of the orbiting complex.

Uploaded by ReelNASA on 27 Oct 2011

Documentary – the physics behind space missions

A super-cool documentary starring our very own ATV! This YouTube video from ESA's Human Spaceflight team explains the complex physical laws that play a role in space missions in an entertaining and non-technical way. Nice way to pass some time waiting for the Soyuz launch...

The Erasmus Centre of the ESA Directorate of Human Spaceflight picked one of ESA's success stories — the mission of Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) that was docked to the International Space Station (ISS) for 6 months — to highlight the complex physical laws behind handy space applications and driving current and future human exploration undertakings. In the video, Ronald Top flies the viewer over the hurdles of orbital mechanics, propulsion and satellite navigation.

ATV is an ESA success story used as the 'case study' for most of the laws of physics presented. Launch pads in French Guyana, Jules Verne's house, a clock museum, ESTEC, the Bremen Drop Tower are some of the milestones in this journey through history and physics highlighting the basic principles of space travel.

Galileo launch minus 5 days!!!

Solar arrays are very sensitive. A special rig helps remove them from the transport containers without damage. Credit: ESA/C. Beskow

ATV-3 launch: Day 59 of the Launch Campaign - Saturday, 15 Oct

The latest update from ESA’s Charlotte Beskow in Kourou – Ed.

What were you doing this morning? Celebrating France's win in the Rugby Semi finals perhaps?

Here in Kourou the Galileo team were probably savouring the fact that Soyuz, carrying their two satellites, was rolled out to the pad yesterday... their launch is planned for 20 Oct and the VIPs have started arriving!

The ATV preparation teams had something different on their minds: Getting Edoardo Amaldi (ATV-3) ready to mount and test the first of four solar arrays.

A crane is lifting the five-tonne spacecraft onto a stand. Credit: ESA/C. Beskow

This sounds easy but is, in fact, somewhat complicated. The solar arrays are, of course, very sensitive to light and therefore have to be protected at all times. The arrays come in big transport containers. In the picture you see both the container and the rig.

You can also see the unpacked array (the first one of the four), ready and waiting for the next step of the spacecraft integration process.  As you can see, there is a lot more to launching a spacecraft than the spacecraft itself.

The spacecraft has been made ready and is placed on a stand. Since it weighs ca. 5 tonnes, this involves using a crane and being very, very careful.

The place where the solar arrays are to be installed is indicated by the pink protective sheeting.

Six people move nine tons of equipment into the right position. Credit: ESA/C. Beskow

Once this was done, a clampband was installed to allow us to tilt the entire spacecraft. The clampband goes on the interface between the spacecraft and the mechanical support. Once the spacecraft was securely attached to the mechanical frame it had to be tilted and rotated to bring it in line with the deployment rig. This is pretty spectacular and was closely watched by the team.

Next, all that had to be done was to move the spacecraft and align it perfectly with the rig — and then rotate Edoardo Amaldi to bring the fixation points in line with the rig.

Simple right? Actually yes! So how many people do you need to move nine tonnes of equipment? Roughly six (provided you have an airpad system). How do you know where to go? A piece of string on the floor gives the lateral position! And strings hanging from the rig touch the spacecraft.

So all is set for the next step... lunch!

-- Charlotte

Editor's note: Access the full image gallery of the morning's work via Flickr

YouTube: Your experiment, 250 miles above Earth, for the world to see

What will you do?

We're asking you to come up with a science experiment for space and upload a video explaining it to YouTube. If your idea wins, it will be performed on the International Space Station and live streamed on YouTube to the world. And we'll throw in some out-of-this-world prizes, too.

Can plants survive beyond the Earth? Could proteins in space reveal the mysteries of life? Science in micro gravity can help unlock the answers. The countdown's begun.

Full information for 14- to 17-year-old students on the SpaceLab via ESA.

Build your own ATV!

ATV paper model

ATV paper model

There's still couple of months before the next ATV launch. Yes, the teams around Europe and in Kourou are busy with preparation, but the rest of us just have to wait to see this spectacular mission get underway.  One wonderful way to pass the time time is building your own ATV!

Take a ruler, a roll of tape, a pair of scissors, a knife, a glue stick, some universal glue, sheets of cardboard and finally one single unfolded paper clip. Print the new ATV paper model sheets and you're ready for another ATV mission!

Astronaut Paolo Nespoli & friends on post-flight tour

ESA astronauts Paolo Nespoli and Roberto Vittori, along with NASA colleagues Greg Johnson, Cadie Coleman and Andrew Feustel, visit ESA's ESTEC establishment during their post-flight tour for Expedition 26-27 (Paolo's MagISStra mission) and STS-134 (Roberto's DAMA mission).