(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