ATV-CC: ESA and CNES teams at work this weekend

I would like to thank all the ATV-CC teams who are working very hard both Friday night and on the weekend. They have again demonstrated a high level of efficiency and dedication to replan the ATV operational timeline and be ready to support the new launch date.

— J-M. Bois, Head, ESA Operations Team, ATV-CC

Docking simulation training at ATV-CC 26 January 2012. Credit: ESA/J. Harrod

Since Friday, when it had become clear that ATV-3’s hatch would have to be reopened for a physical inspection of the cargo bags, thus delaying lift-off, the joint ESA/CNES mission control team at the ATV Control Centre (ATV-CC), Toulouse, have been working intensely to completely replan the mission timeline. This means that each and every individual event in the mission — and there are many thousands — must be rescheduled to take into account the new expected lift-off and docking times.

What’s included in the mission timeline? A huge number of critical steps, like switching on-board systems on or off, commanding thruster firings, health checks, fuel and power checks, opening and closing of communication slots, mission control team schedules, docking, undocking and much more. In addition, everything must be double checked to ensure that no activity or step in the timeline interferes with any other step — or with operations/activities that are happening in parallel on board the ISS or with other visiting vessels, especially around rendezvous and docking.

For example, ATV mission operations must be tightly coordinated with availability of communication slots provided by NASA’s TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellites) communication satellites, which are used by ATV controllers to communicate with the vessel.

On Friday, as the ESA and CNES mission teams were working, ESA’s Jean-Michel Bois, head of the ESA Operations Management Team at ATV-CC, sent in this note:

ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle (sitting) and Jean-Michel Bois, Head of the ESA team in Toulouse, working in ATV-CC.

You are probably aware that the ATV-3 launch will be postponed until a date to to confirmed by Arianespace. The new launch date would be in, roughly, two weeks, with a docking date at the end of March.

As soon as the postponement was announced, the ATV-CC teams started to assess the consequences; we immediately cancelled all reservations for facilities supporting ATV operations based on the previous launch and docking dates [Like NASA TDRS – Ed.].

The ESA and CNES ATV-CC teams are currently working on a new scenario to replan ATV operations and required support. We are contacting our ISS international partners to define the new conditions for docking. The CNES flight dynamics team has started a new run of computations using the new forecast launch time, orbital parameters and definition of the manoeuvres to be performed to reach the ISS. Other ATV-CC teams are also reassessing all the schedules, ground segment availabilities and much more. These activities will continue this weekend at ATV-CC in order to generate a new, consolidated mission timeline on Monday.

Yesterday, Jean-Michel sent in this update:

All operational activities to prepare for ATV launch and the new mission plan until docking have been replanned. Synchronisation of these activities with our operational partners has been done and the TDRS communication relay satellite reservation requests for new communication slots are on-going, according to the new launch schedule.

I would like to thank all the ATV-CC teams who are working very hard both Friday night and on the weekend. They have again demonstrated a high level of efficiency and dedication to replan the ATV operational timeline and be ready to support the new launch date.