Transfer & phasing  11 March, 2008 19:04

ATV over Holland, 11 March 2008. Credit: J. Hatton Jason Hatton, a keen amateur photographer in Holland, grabbed a couple of **great** pictures of the ISS and ATV overhead this morning! Click on 'Full story' to access hi-res versions and details (thanks, Jason!). -- Daniel

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Transfer & phasing  11 March, 2008 18:37

This also published on the main ESA portal earlier:

Jules Verne ATV successfully performed a series of orbital manoeuvres earlier this afternoon. The two manoeuvres using the main engines, which occurred at 15:54 and 17:06 CET, initiated the orbital phasing (the period in which the spacecraft adjusts its orbit to match that of the ISS). Two additional orbit manoeuvres tomorrow afternoon will complete the phasing boost.

-- Daniel

Transfer & phasing  11 March, 2008 18:28

This just published a few moments ago on the main ESA web portal:

Following an overnight recovery operation, Jules Verne ATV's propulsion system has successfully been restored to full robustness. The spacecraft has since performed the first orbital manoeuvres necessary to set up phasing with the International Space Station.

Mission controllers in Toulouse are now rescheduling activities to take Jules Verne ATV to its parking orbit in front of the ISS, including a demonstration of the spacecraft's Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre capability. Once in the parking orbit, Jules Verne ATV will wait for the completion of the STS-123 Shuttle mission at the Space Station, before proceeding with the rendezvous demonstration manoeuvres and the final rendezvous and docking.

Full details on the ESA portal here. -- Daniel

Transfer & phasing  09 March, 2008 19:16

A quick update: there's a report on the ESA web portal on ATV! The highlight info is:

An absolutely perfect launch brought Jules Verne ATV into orbit after a textbook countdown and mission of the Ariane 5 launcher. All the events occurred on time, the multiple re-ignition of the specially designed Ariane 5 upper stage went off absolutely as predicted. Jules Verne ATV separated as foreseen and was injected in the correct orbit. Communication between the spacecraft and the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse confirmed that the spacecraft was responding nominally.

All navigation systems onboard, the star-trackers, the GPS system are working nominally and the solar arrays, which deployed very smoothly, are delivering full power. However the spacecraft on board computers detected a slight difference in pressure between the oxidizer and the fuel that compose the propellant. This caused the ATV to immediately switch over to the second of four propulsion chains, as it is designed to do.

Click on 'Full story' for original link and access to mp3 audio of today's press conference in Kourou.

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