The roll-out of the Ariane 5 ES-ATV is now set to start no earlier than 14:30 Kourou time, that's 18:30 CET (17:30 UT).
--Maria

(Extra info received - the delay doesn't have any affect on the rest of the countdown, they have 24 hours in which to finish the roll-out. Let's hope it doesn't take that long though...)

I have just received the latest official weather forecast for Kourou, courtesy of CNES at the Guiana Space Centre...

For Friday afternoon, the weather in Kourou/CSG is cloudy with a ceiling at 2000 m, but no significant rain showers. No thunderstorms are expected either (these would threaten the roll-out). The roll-out is scheduled to take place not earlier than 1:40 pm local time (17:40 CET, 16:40 UT).

For Saturday and launch time, no big change in the weather pattern. So it will remain cloudy at launch time, but with low probability of thunderstorms. The winds are also expected to be favorable at lift-off time.

Lightning and wind are the main constrains for launch in this equatorial region. Temperatures in Kourou are currently 25-27 degrees C.. day and night!

--Maria

"Our Russian colleagues look at the ATV as though it were also their own vehicle... they really identify with this project." Earlier this afternoon (while our blog server was being fixed), Mareike and I received a call from the ESA team at MCC-M - the ISS Mission Control Centre in Korolov city, Moscow, otherwise known in Russian as 'TsUP'. The ESA team there are deeply involved in ATV operations, as ATV will eventually dock to the Russian module on the ISS. Christian Feichtinger, the office head, answered a number of questions on their activities, cooperation between ESA and the Russian partners and the intense media interest in ATV in Russia. He mentioned that the Russians are deeply involved in ATV - and are as excited about it as ESA is, too (listen to mp3 file under 'Full story') -- Daniel

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ESA photographer Stephane Corvaja is in Kourou and sent a couple photos (click on Full story) of the launcher being prepared for the roll-out. He will be sending us some more photos later this evening when the roll-out is finished. I'll publish some in the blog and they will be in the ATV section of the ESA Portal Multimedia Gallery too.
-- Maria

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I spoke with Manfred Lugert, head of the ground facilities operations team here at ESOC, yesterday afternoon and he took some time to point out the interesting (and essential) roles for two of ESA's ground stations in the ATV mission. The ESTRACK station at Redu, Belgium, which serves at the ground control centre for ESA's own telecommunications satellite, Artemis, will provide relay communications for ATV once the cargo vessel is docked to the ISS, now scheduled for 3 April (more info under 'Full story'). -- Daniel

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Latest from Kourou. The start of the roll-out has been delayed by a few hours. There's a small problem with the 'airconditioning' underneath the fairing – it isn't working properly.

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BBC News have published a comprehensive Jules Verne ATV special: Mission Guide: Jules Verne. There are also a couple of very informative interviews.

One with John Ellwood, ESA's ATV Project Manager, who talks us through the Jules Verne ATV mission: Space freighter's complex mission.

And a second with Nicolas Chamussy, ATV programme manager for prime contractor EADS Astrium, who describes the ATV's main features: ATV: A truck engineered for space

Very much worth a read and watch.
--Maria

The ESA team at Santa Maria station, on the island of Santa Maria in the Atlantic, will be among the first to acquire signals from Ariane as it rises in the West on Sunday morning; Santa Maria is the newest station in ESA's global ESTRACK network, and is ideally located to acquire signals from launchers climbing toward the North-East from Kourou. Santa Maria is one of the first ESTRACK stations with launcher-tracking capability and is used to receive real-time telemetry from Kourou launches. Click on 'Full story' for a report and photos from the station, sent in just a few hours ago. -- Daniel

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