Automated Transfer Vehicles: ATV [Info/News]
Video gamers ahoy! :lol: BUT SERIOUSLY. :grin: Shooting a Par-3 hole in space: Three steps to ATV docking‏ Jules Verne ATV is lining up for Europe's first-ever automated docking in space. Following two demonstrations, the final 'putt' must be more accurate and gentle than on any rolling golf green. Full story: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/SEMQ29N5NDF_0.html

forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=1195#1195" target="_blank">http://mscao.8.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=1195#1195 Some news there of the ATV in action! From now on, any active mission news you can find likely all there. This ATV thread will be purely for advancements of it, alone... :salute:

:badger: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080405.html Jules Verne in Orbit Credit: ISS Expedition 16 Crew, NASA, ESA Explanation: The bright edge of planet Earth fades into the darkness of space in the background of this view of Jules Verne on an extraordinary voyage. Snapped last Monday, the picture shows the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), named for the 19th century science fiction writer and visionary, rehearsing its autonomous docking capability on approach to the International Space Station. Using a laser guided rendezvous system, the Jules Verne docked smoothly and safely with the orbiting station on Thursday, delivering 7,500 pounds of equipment, supplies, and fuel. The cylindrical body of the robotic cargo spacecraft is 4.5 meters in diameter and 10.3 meters long, with solar arrays spanning 22.3 meters. Jules Verne is scheduled to remain docked until August, providing a reboost for the space station before the ATV is deorbited.

Great news here. Bigtime help these will be! I'll post this in the ATV + ISS threads... Take care N°20-2008 – Paris, 3 April 2008 Europe’s automated ship docks to the ISS The ATV Jules Verne, European Space Agency’s first resupply and reboost vehicle, has successfully performed a fully automated docking with the International Space Station (ISS). This docking marks the beginning of the Jules Verne’s main servicing mission to deliver cargo, propellant, water, oxygen and propulsion capacity to the Station, as well as ESA’s entry into the restricted club of the partners able to access the orbital facility by their own means. The 19-ton unmanned spaceship manoeuvred from a holding position 39 km behind the 275-ton space outpost and conducted a 4-hour staged approach with several stops at reference points for checks. It autonomously computed its own position through relative GPS (comparison between data collected by GPS receivers both on the ATV and the ISS) and in close range it used videometers pointed at laser retroreflectors on the ISS to determine its distance and orientation relative to its target. Final approach was at a relative velocity of 7 cm/s and with an accuracy of less than 10 cm, while both the ATV and the ISS were orbiting at about 28000 km/h, some 340 km above the Eastern Mediterranean. The ATV Jules Verne’s docking probe was captured by the docking cone at the aft end of Russia’s Zvezda module at 16:45 CEST (14:45 GMT). Docking was completed with hooks closing at 16:52 CEST (14:52 GMT). First automated docking This is the very first time in Europe that an automated docking is performed in due respect of the very tight safety constraints imposed by manned spaceflight operations. All the approach and docking phase was piloted by the ATV’s onboard computers under close monitoring by the teams of ESA, CNES (the French Space agency) and Astrium (the prime contractor) at the ATV Control Centre at CNES Toulouse, France, as well as the ISS crew inside the Zvezda module. In case of anomaly, both ends could trigger pre-programmed manoeuvres to hold position, retreat to the previous reference point or escape to a safe distance. The ATV’s behaviour was also under surveillance from its own independent Monitoring & Safing Unit (MSU), which uses a separate set of sensors and computers to check that the approach manoeuvre is conducted safely. In case of major anomaly, the MSU would have been able to take over the commands and order a Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre (CAM) through dedicated avionics chains and thrusters. As all operations went smoothly, none of these safety manoeuvres was required during this afternoon’s approach and docking. The ATV Jules Verne was launched by an Ariane 5 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 9 March. Three days later, it successfully demonstrated its autonomous CAM capability and was cleared for ISS proximity operations. The spaceship then moved to a parking orbit for the duration of space shuttle Endeavour’s visit to the ISS. On March 29 and 31 it conducted two rehearsals of today’s docking, approaching at 11 m from the Station. New delivery service Now that it is docked, the ATV Jules Verne will become an additional module of the ISS for about four months. The astronauts will enter its pressurized cargo module and retrieve 1,150 kg of dry cargo, including food, clothes and equipment as well as two original manuscripts handwritten by Jules Verne and a XIXth century illustrated edition of his novel “From the Earth to the Moon”. In addition, they will pump 856 kg of propellant, 270 kg of drinking water and 21 kg of oxygen into Zvezda’s tanks. The ATV can carry about three times as much payload as Russia’s Progress freighters but on this mission, most of it is actually propellant to be used by the ATV’s own propulsion system for periodical manoeuvres to increase the altitude of the ISS in order to compensate its natural decay caused by atmospheric drag. If required, the ATV will also be able to provide redundant attitude control to the ISS or even perform evasive manoeuvres to move the Station out of the way of potentially dangerous space debris. The first of ATV Jules Verne’s reboost manoeuvres is currently scheduled on April 21. "The ATV is so much more than a simple delivery truck, it is an intelligent and versatile spaceship which has just demonstrated its extraordinary skills,” said Daniel Sacotte, ESA’s Director for Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration. “It is the largest and most complex spacecraft ever developed in Europe and the second in size of all the vehicle’s visiting the Station, after NASA’s space shuttle. With Columbus and the ATV, we have entered the major league of the ISS." "The docking of the ATV is a new and spectacular step in the demonstration of European capabilities on the international scene of space exploration ”said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General. “This fantastic step is in first instance the result of collective work in Europe, including ESA Member States, industry under Astrium as prime contractor, CNES and ESA staff as well as among ISS partners, in particular the USA and Russia. We shall now reap the benefits of such investments after the launch of ESA’s Columbus laboratory, first in utilizing the unique capabilities of the ISS and secondly in preparing for the exploration of the Solar System”. Now that the ATV is "up and running", I am happy to announce that in the next few weeks ESA will launch a recruitment campaign to hire new European astronauts" For further information: ESA Media Relations Office Communication and Knowledge Department Tel: + 33 1 5369 7299 Fax: + 33 1 5369 7690

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081017.html An Extraordinary Voyage Credit: Jesse Carpenter, Bill Moede, Peter Jenniskens (NASA Ames Research Center) Explanation: Nineteenth century science fiction author Jules Verne wrote visionary works about Extraordinary Voyages including tales of space flight and the story of a journey From the Earth to the Moon. Fittingly, the European Space Agency's newly developed Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a robotic spacecraft intended to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) was named in his honor and successfully docked with the ISS earlier this year. When the Jules Verne ATV was undocked and deorbited last month, its safely controlled reentry over the Pacific Ocean was followed by astronomers in order to make detailed comparisons of the actual event with computer models of spacecraft reentry and breakup in the atmosphere. This dramatic image of the fragmenting, 13-ton spacecraft is a high definition video frame recorded from NASA's DC-8 Airborne Laboratory. The observations were part of the joint ESA/NASA Jules Verne Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign.