Astro Pettit videos ATV reboosting ISS

Posted on 4 Apr 2012 11:17 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

(Updated 17:54) NASA astronaut Don Pettit has posted an excellent video showing ATV-3′s first Station reboost on Saturday 31 March (Is this the first-ever showing an ATV reboost from orbit? – Ed.). The video clearly shows ATV’s thrusters firing against the black backdrop of space. ATV Mission Director Jean-Michel Bois commented:

Thanks for this wonderful video. This activity was a nominal planned test in order to verify the good integration of ATV and ISS; it’s a standard test to be performed as soon as possible after ATV docking. In particular, we tested here the ‘commandability’ of the ATV thrusters via the ISS computers via a small boost (just 1m/s). The objective was to ensure the readiness of ATV either to perform future (and much larger) planned reboosts of the Station or to support at any time a Debris Avoidance Manoeuvre.

And it is a great video clip!

You can read details on the reboost in our earlier post, or via the ESA website. @Astro_Pettit wrote:

Here is my attempt to capture a Station re-boost last weekend using ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) propellant. Notice that as the burn progresses, a halo of exhaust accumulates that is visible when the thrusters fire for thrust corrections.

Via Letters to Earth – Don Pettit’s blog in Air & Space magazine

Posted in Astronauts, ATV-3, ATV-CC, Flight dynamics, ISS, Operations, Video | Tagged , | Leave a comment

ATV-3 cargo transfer activities

Posted on 4 Apr 2012 09:32 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

NASA Public Affairs Officer Dan Huot interviews Michael Ferullo, NASA’s Lead Inventory and Stowage Officer for ATV-3. Transferring cargo to and from a docked resupply ship is a complex and time-consuming activity for station residents!

Posted in Astronauts, ATV team, ATV-3, Cargo, ISS, ISS Partners, Video | Tagged | Leave a comment

CNES/ESA ATV Tweetup, Toulouse, 28/29 March 2012

Posted on 2 Apr 2012 15:55 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

Fifty dedicated spacetweeps gathered in Toulouse 28/29 March for the CNES/ESA ATV Docking SpaceTweetup to watch the docking of ATV Edoardo Amaldi with the International Space Station. As well as talks from ESA and CNES ATV experts, and a tour of the control centre, surprise guests included ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Mars500 participants Diego Urbina and Romain Charles.

Posted in Astronauts, ATV-3, ATV-CC, Docking, Events, Fun stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

Astro André unloading ATV

Posted on 2 Apr 2012 12:26 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

Unloading the Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV-3, on Saturday. Fortunately it doesn’t weigh anything… Credit: ESA/NASA

Uitladen van de Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV3, afgelopen zaterdag. Gelukkig weegt het niets...

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First test ISS reboost complete

Posted on 1 Apr 2012 12:30 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

ESA Mission Director Jean-Michel Bois sent in a short update after last night’s ‘test’ reboost. The successful burn using the ATV’s thrusters means that the vessel is ready for a series of larger planned reboosts (the first expected on 5 April) and to conduct debris avoidance manoeuvres when necessary (scroll down below the animation for Jean-Michel’s note).


Animation of reboost performed by ATV Jules Verne

After the successful power/electrical reconnection of ATV with the ISS in the afternoon, the test of the ATV reboost capability was performed on 31 March at 21:54 UT/GMT.

The goal was to ensure that the ATV was correctly integrated with Station and that its thrusters were able to perform the foreseen orbital altitude boost manoeuvres and support at any time a debris avoidance manoeuvre (DAM) if necessary.

The test demonstrated the good coordination between ATV-CC (Toulouse), MCC-M (Moscow Control Centre) and MCC-H (Houston Control Center), and that activation of the ATV propulsion system can be directly commanded by the ISS computers.

A small change in velocity of 1m/s was delivered to the Station via two main thrusters (OCS – orbital control system) of the ATV.

Note that while the thruster burn was controlled from ground, ESA astronaut André Kuipers helped prepare the Station for the 351-second burn: he closed the protective external shutters of the Lab, Node-3/Cupola & ‘Kibo’ Japanese Experiment Module windows to prevent their contamination from thruster effluents during and after the test burn.

It takes a team!

Posted in ATV team, ATV-3, ATV-CC, Flight dynamics, Operations, Video | Tagged | 3 Comments

13:10 CEST – ATV-3 power restored

Posted on 31 Mar 2012 13:10 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

(Updated 19:24 CEST) An update on the information we posted earlier today on the ATV electrical problem has just arrived from Massimo Cislaghi, ESA’s ATV Mission Manager. The news is very positive!

On 30 March, the command path to one (of four) RICU units (part of the ATV-ISS electrical interface system) failed. The ATV’s failure detection, isolation and recovery function switched off, as foreseen, the ATV’s Russian avionics Chain 1.

ATV functions continued nominally with the ATV’s own autonomous power supply.

In the meantime, the second chain, Chain 2, was successfully switched on to take over the lost command path and the ATV-ISS power bus connection was restored in the evening of 31 March.

The ATV operations to test the ATV engines for ISS re-boost will be performed as planned during the evening of 31 March.

The loss of one out four redundant functions is not considered critical and re-integration of the lost command path is under investigation.

This is good news and means that the ATV is now re-connected to ISS electrical power.

ISS030-E-175120 (28 March 2012) --- European Space Agency's "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) approaches the International Space Station. The unmanned cargo spacecraft docked to the space station at 6:31 p.m. (EDT) on March 28, 2012, delivering 220 pounds of oxygen, 628 pounds of water, 4.5 tons of propellant, and nearly 2.5 tons of dry cargo, including experiment hardware, spare parts, food and clothing. Credit: NASA

ISS030-E-175120 (28 March 2012) --- European Space Agency's "Edoardo Amaldi" Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) approaches the International Space Station. The unmanned cargo spacecraft docked to the space station at 6:31 p.m. (EDT) on March 28, 2012, delivering 220 pounds of oxygen, 628 pounds of water, 4.5 tons of propellant, and nearly 2.5 tons of dry cargo, including experiment hardware, spare parts, food and clothing. Credit: NASA

Posted in ATV team, ATV-3, Cargo, Docking, Hatch opening, ISS, Operations, Technology & engineering | Tagged | 5 Comments

ATV Edoardo Amaldi – docking timelapse

Posted on 30 Mar 2012 14:40 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

Very nice time-lapse animation posted by Ronsmytheiii in Youtube yesterday! Gives a great profile/overview of the entire docking sequence. Nice work!

Posted in ATV-3, Docking, Video | 1 Comment

Astro Tolya sampling air inside ATV-3

Posted on 30 Mar 2012 13:52 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

Astro Tolya sampling air inside ATV-3 during ingress while Astro Oleg installed clamps. Photos: Credit ESA/NASA

Posted in Astronauts, ATV-3, Hatch opening, Images, Media, Operations, Technology & engineering | Tagged | Leave a comment

First picture: Astro André Kuipers inside ATV-3

Posted on 30 Mar 2012 09:59 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

ESA astronaut André Kuipers seen yesterday evening inside ATV Edoardo Amaldi during hatch opening and initial ingress activities. Welcome aboard!

André wrote: First time floating inside ATV. Wearing mask and protective glasses in case the air is bad or there is anything floating around inside. All ok. Photo credit: ESA/NASA

Eerste keer ATV binnen gezweefd. Met masker en bril voor eventueel slechte lucht of gevaarlijke deeltjes. Alles OK.

Posted in Astronauts, ATV-3, Hatch opening, Images, Life on ISS | Tagged | 1 Comment

21:51 CEST – It will be still a long night

Posted on 29 Mar 2012 21:55 by Daniel View all posts by Daniel

From ESA’s Mike Steinkopf at ATV-CC:

Scrubbing started at 19:05 GMT / 22:05 CEST and is planned to last 4h15; the crew are departing ATV, and will close but not latch the hatch. It will be still a long night! After scrubbing, the nominal plan is to install the POTOK fur further cleaning during crew night.

Posted in Astronauts, ATV team, ATV-3, ATV-CC, Docking, Hatch opening, Operations | Leave a comment