Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 15:17
S3 arrival - Jules Verne now 249 m from ISS
ATV arrived at station-keeping point S3 at 15:16 CEST; it is scheduled to stay there until 15:52 CEST.
From 500 m out, the ISS video camera was switched on. The crew have been looking at the Simvol video display, adjusting the transparent mask overlay (that helps them guage the range and range rate to ATV), and monitoring ATV's progress.
Also at S3, ATV-CC has issued the GO SLEW command, which will initiate the ATV's manouevre to cnhange attitude into Earth-pointing mode. -- Daniel
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 15:03
Third boost to reach S3
The third S3 closing boost is now underway. One more to go...
-- Maria
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 14:51
Preview of today: A very cool video from Demo Day 2
Here's a video clip recorded druing Demo Day 2 on 31 March, when ATV closed to within 11 m of the ISS. This video is a sort of mash-up, showing three simultaneous views of Jules Verne as it came into illumination near S41. Bottom left shows the view via the ESA Docking Video System (camera inside Russian module); top and bottom right shows the view from two cameras mounted on the ISS (and projecting downward, thus the image is up-side-down with respect to the docking video system view).
This is a good preview of what will happen in just a couple hours from now when ATV reaches S41 again. It's real-time, so a little slow - but well worth the wait! -- Daniel
Full story »
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 14:49
14:49 CEST - Closing boost 2 underway
The second closing boost has started. Jules Verne and ISS are currently heading for the lower tip of South America, just passing the day-might boundary. The two vehicles are passing through Earth's eclipse, but just moving into orbital sunrise... BEAUTIFUL sight!!
-- Maria
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 14:36
14:36 CEST - Departure from S2
A few minutes ago Jules Verne ATV received the go for next phase - CLOSING. During CLOSING, ATV is transferred by 4 burns from the S2 station keeping point to S3 (249 m away from ISS). The first CLOSING boost is underway. Read more in Daniels previous post at the same point during Demo Day 2
-- Maria
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 14:19
HOLD and RETREAT commands ok
On the ATV-CC voice loop we just heard "HOLD and RETREAT commands are correct" ... Today these are test commands sent to Jules Verne to make sure that they are being received properly. The news is - they were received ok.
-- Maria
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 14:13
Kurs data now visible on Simvol
The data received from the Kurs radar-based system has just appeared on the Simvol.
-- Maria
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 14:04
14:04 CEST - Arrived at S2
Jules Verne ATV has arrived at S2 - now just 3.5 km away from ISS. This is a so-called station keeping point. Jules Verne will remain here for just over 30 minutes. Whilst in this position the spacecraft's external lights will be activated. The Russian Kurs radar-based system will also be activated - the crew will use data from the Kurs to check the relative GPS data they see on the Simvol.
-- Maria
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 13:44
Quick snapshot of ATV!
We can see ATV on screen in the ATV-CC, as imaged from the ISS. It's just a faint dot (see red circle), but she's looking quite beautiful today! At this time, the range was about 9,000 m -- Daniel
Rendezvous& docking
03 April, 2008 13:18
13:18:50 CEST - Arrival at S1
Jules Verne just arrived at S1 - that is a point 15.5 km behind ISS and 5 km below. AND... we have just got our first glimpse of Jules Verne here in the control centre. Right now still a dot in the distance. -- Maria