Follows Highly Successful First Mission For ATV
At the end of a flawless six-month mission Europe's first
Automated Transfer Vehicle "Jules Verne" undocked from the
International Space Station Monday at 23:29 hours CEST. The ATV has
now embarked on the last leg of its journey in space, which will
end with a controlled destructive re-entry into the Earth's
atmosphere on September 29.
The hatches between the ISS and the ATV were closed by the
Station crew on September 4, following ATV preparation for
automated undocking. Once all other pre-undocking tasks had been
performed, the ATV hooks were opened, detaching Europe's unmanned
logistics vehicle from the ISS, with a spring mechanism pushing it
slowly away.
After drifting unpowered for one minute to a distance three
meters away from the Station, the ATV deployed its smaller attitude
control thrusters to start its departure boost and distance itself
further. Within 22 minutes of undocking, the ATV was right below
the ISS at a distance of about three miles, at which point its
automatic emergency systems and collision avoidance systems were
disabled.
Having completed this 22 minute undocking and departure-boost
operation, the ATV is now in its rephasing period, which will last
just over 23 days. This covers carrying out maneuvers to lower the
ATV orbit, bringing it back on the same orbital flight path as the
ISS but at a certain point below and behind. This time period for
carrying out these maneuvers is necessary in order to optimize fuel
consumption, so that the ATV arrives at the correct point enabling
its re-entry over a completely uninhabited area of the South
Pacific to be viewable from the ISS, as well as from two
specially-equipped observation aircraft to be deployed at
monitoring locations in the region.
ESA says the ATV has had an exceptionally successful inaugural
mission following
its launch on March 9: a perfectly executed
in-orbit test phase prior to
docking; delivery of the necessary logistics
supplies to the Space Station; carrying out four ISS
altitude-raising reboosts to counter residual atmospheric drag;
additionally performing an ISS debris avoidance maneuver on August
27,
after fragments of an old Russian satellite came within the
Station's vicinity.
"How the ATV has performed highlights extremely well how the
benchmark of European space technology has been raised, and the
wealth of expertise present in European industry", said Simonetta
Di Pippo, ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight. "This bodes well,
not only for future ATV missions to the International Space
Station, but also for developments of this kind of technology that
may eventually provide Europe with an autonomous cargo return
capability and independent access to space for European
astronauts."
Prior to the undocking, the ISS crew spent the last few days
making the final preparations, including transferring from the ATV
equipment needed on the Station, loading up the ATV with Station
waste and also setting up and testing equipment for ISS/ATV
communications for this operation. They will now be preparing for
the forthcoming arrival at the ISS of the next logistics vehicle,
Russia's Progress 30P spacecraft, on September 12.