ESA have launched a new blog covering the 2011 ATV Johannes Kepler mission.

Access the site via: http://blogs.esa.int/atv

In the meanwhile, this blog will remain available as an archive from the 2008 Jules Verne mission. -- Daniel

The second of ESA’s ATV automated cargo craft has been cleared for shipping to the launch site in Kourou. Its launch on an Ariane 5 to the International Space Station is scheduled for late this year.
 
ATV-2, named after German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, has undergone extensive system testing at EADS Astrium’s site in Bremen, Germany, over the last few months and has now been given the go-ahead for shipping. It will be dispatched to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana in several sections, accompanied by 59 containers with test equipment. In Kourou, it will be assembled and extensively tested before being loaded with cargo and fuelled. The launch is now planned for the end of 2010.

Full article: http://bit.ly/d6VPvW 

This published earlier today in the main ESA web site -- Daniel

Third ATV named after Edoardo Amaldi

Production of the Automated Transfer Vehicles is gearing up. After the flawless flight of the first ATV, Jules Verne, the second, Johannes Kepler, is being completed for launch later this year. Now, the third ATV has been named after the Italian physicist and space pioneer Edoardo Amaldi.

Full article under this link

Here's a recap of the key mission milestones for ATV Jules Verne, beginning with launch on 9 March 2008 up to the most recent boosts on 15 September (click on 'Full story' for details). -- Daniel

 Full story »

A great animation showing an artist's visualisation of the entire undocking and reentry sequence - which will be complete in just under 24 hours from now. Of course, the undocking took place on 5 September at 23:29 CEST, since when the ATV has been in its rephasing period, which will last just over 23 days (original press release w/more tech details on the ESA web site). -- Daniel

Credit: ESA

A short post to say 'hi' and let you know that Maria Bennett and I are back online to blog the re-entry of ATV Jules Verne. We're covering the event from the ATV Control Centre (ATV CC) in Toulouse, France, and we're looking forward to an exciting - if a little sad - event. We'll do our best to keep you up-to-date on what's happening with the spacecraft and on all the activities here at ATV CC. -- Daniel 

Now that Jules Verne is docked and in operation at the ISS, we're signing off from the Jules Verne ATV Blog! We've had a fantastic time reporting for ESA's blog from ESOC in Germany, ESTEC in The Netherlands, and - of course - ATV-CC in Toulouse, France.

We'd like to thank everyone at ESA, CNES and the industry teams who took time to answer our questions, especially the men and women on the ATV project team and on the mission control team. We'd also like to thank everyone who visited our blog - and especially those who posted a comment, a query or a message.

For future updates on ATV, please check the ATV site on the main ESA Web portal, at http://www.esa.int/atv.

-- Daniel, Maria and the Blog Team