ESA’s Daniel Firre has sent in an update from the Mission Director’s console in ATV-CC Toulouse on this morning’s ISS reboost – the final one planned for the ATV-3 mission:

The last reboost of the ISS by ATV3 has been successfully performed early this morning. The purpose of the reboost was to set up correct phasing for the Soyuz 30 landing and Soyuz 32 launch.

Post-manoeuvre evaluation of the orbit by the NASA trajectory specialists confirmed the following:

  • Time of ignition was 05:05 CEST, with a total burn duration of 08 min 56 sec.
  • ISS reached a delta-V of 1.28 m/sec, which in this case corresponds to an altitude increase of 2.23 km
  • Propellant expenditure was in the order of 175 kg

ATV-3 now has almost no propellant left, apart of course from the reserve kept for the separation and reentry boosts, and a small margin in case a short-notice ISS debris avoidance manoeuvre

Best Regards,
— Daniel