Update from the ATV team today. The FAR is when the ESA team sit down and review stacks of industry documents demonstrating that the spacecraft has been built and tested according to all specifications and that it meets all requirements.

While teams in Kourou are busy fuelling ATV-5 with MMH rocket fuel,  their colleagues are busy with the Final Acceptance Review (FAR) meeting. Documents have been arriving since 8 April and experts have gone through them to ensure that all is set for this final ATV.

Teams are colocated in ESTEC this week, going through the detailed comments raised by the reviewers. True to form, this results in colourful Excel spreadsheets, which are passed around. The target is that all comments will be addressed / closed by the end of the week. If it is not possible to close them, then actions will be set in place to ensure that whatever needs doing gets done in time. A final meeting on 10 June will assess the work done.