Update from ESA Mission Director Thomas Beck at ATV-CC on today’s second set of mid-course burns.

Today’s second set of mid-course manoeuvres has been executed successfully.

The first manoeuvre starting at 14:35:24 CEST and lasting 187 sec aimed at achieving a delta velocity of 1.44 m/sec. Evaluation based on accelerometer measurements showed that this has been achieved with an accuracy of 0.6% (overboost). The second manoeuvre starting at 15:20:03 and lasting 186 secs was designed to deliver the same velocity increment.  The accelerometer measurements confirm a burn accuracy of 0.5 % (overboost). For both manoeuvres the spacecraft’s ACS (attitude control system) thrusters were used.

Today’s small corrections increased the average orbit altitude by about  5 km. The next manoeuvres will start the Transfer to ISS Vicinity (TIV). They are scheduled for Thursday this week.