Artists impression of ATV-5 breakup and reentry. Credits: ESA-D. Ducros

Artists impression of ATV-5 breakup and reentry. Credits: ESA-D. Ducros

Over on the ESA Space Engineering website, a full-length article on ATV-5’s reentry camera: As ESA’s remaining supply ferry to the International Space Station burns up in the atmosphere, its final moments as its hull disintegrates will be recorded from the inside by a unique infrared camera.

An ESA-led team designed and developed the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Break-Up Camera in just nine months in order to make it on board in time.

Working at breakneck pace, the team designed, built and tested both the camera and the Reentry SatCom capsule to work like an aircraft-style ’black box’ to store images, then transmit them to Earth after the vessel’s break-up via an Iridium satellite link.

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