Europe's 'Jules Verne' cargo ship mission to ISS

[mickw]

A European cargo ship the size of a double-decker bus is primed for its maiden flight to haul fresh supplies toward the International Space Station (ISS).
Jules Verne, a massive unmanned cargo ship built for the European Space Agency (ESA), is set to launch toward the station at 11:03:06 p.m. EST (0403:06 GMT) from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. A modified European Ariane 5 rocket will loft the nearly 21-ton Jules Verne into orbit from its equatorial launch site on the northern coast of South America.
More:  http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080305-techwed-atv-maiden-flight.html

[Rick]

The "Jules Verne" is Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to fly to the International Space Station. Read on to find out more about its crucial mission which launches on Sunday.

[Rick]

The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle yesterday hitched a lift on a specially-adapted Ariane 5ES rocket from the Guiana Space Centre en route to "re-supply and re-boost" the International Space Station (ISS).

The lift was, at almost 20-tonnes, twice the payload previously carried aloft by an Ariane 5, and went without a hitch at 01:03 local (05:03 CET, 04:03 GMT) from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/10/atv_launch/

[Rick]

Europe's new orbital cargo ship has launched from French Guiana on a mission to resupply the space station.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is the biggest and most complex spacecraft Europe has ever tried to put in orbit.

The 20-tonne unmanned freighter left the Kourou spaceport at 0403 GMT, riding atop an Ariane 5 rocket.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7285796.stm

[Rick]

Europe's new ATV space truck is up and running following Sunday's launch, although one propulsion glitch means a back-up system is currently being used.

The freighter is sitting in a 260km high orbit and is due to deliver just under five tonnes of supplies to the space station on 3 April.

The anomaly has shut down seven of 28 attitude control jets and one of the space truck's four main engines.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7287417.stm

[Ian]

and here's a map of the project participants...

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/SEM0L632VBF_0.html

There's definitely something missing...

[Rick]

The usual suspect, when it comes to just about anything involving space... 

[Ian]

that's what you get from the almost exclusively recruiting the senior civil service from the ranks of Oxbridge classicists. I'm sure speaking ancient Greek is important in the day to day running of the country, but doesn't help with an understanding of the importance of scientific progress.

I'll just tuck my soapbox away now...

[Rick]

The "Jules Verne" is Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to fly to the International Space Station.

Built for the European Space Agency (Esa), the ATV is a sophisticated, automated spacecraft that can find its own way to the orbiting platform.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7282311.stm

[Rick]

Europe's space freighter, the ATV, has had its propulsion system fully restored after an earlier glitch had closed down a quarter of its thrusters.

Mission controllers in Toulouse sent up commands to the vehicle on Tuesday that brought the thrusters and an electronic control box back online.

The truck has now begun the climb to the space station from the 260km-high orbit in which it was initially placed.

The ATV is expected to dock with the platform on 3 April.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7291086.stm

[Rick]

Europe's "Jules Verne" freighter has demonstrated the ability to navigate itself to a point just 3,500m from the International Space Station.

The cargo ship, which carries some five tonnes of supplies for the platform, was then instructed by ground control to "escape" to a safe distance.

It was the first of two demo days the vehicle must complete before being allowed to dock with the ISS.

Practice manoeuvres on Monday will take Jules Verne to 12m from the station.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7321116.stm

[Rick]

The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle is slowly but surely creeping up on the International Space Station prior to a docking scheduled for 3 April.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/31/atv_demonstration/

The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle yesterday manoevered itself to within 11 metres of the docking port of the ISS's Russian Zvezda module during a second "demonstration day" designed to test its "critical optical navigation system" prior to a scheduled docking on 3 April.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/01/atv_close_approach/

Europe's "Jules Verne" freighter has demonstrated its ability to make extremely fine movements right next to the International Space Station (ISS).

The 20-tonne cargo ship edged up to within 12m of the back of the platform and then moved away to a safe distance.

The dress rehearsal was demanded by the station partners to prove the truck has the necessary control to make an automatic docking on Thursday.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7323275.stm

[Rick]

The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle this afternoon successfully docked with the International Space Station at 16:45 CEST (14:45 GMT) following a cautious approach monitored by both ground-based teams and the ISS's crew.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/03/atv_iss_docking/

[mickw]

Jules Verne - or the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to give it its generic name - has generated considerable interest in the UK. This is despite Britain having no investment in the remarkable new spacecraft.
Although the UK is a leading member of the European Space Agency (Esa), it chooses not to participate in human spaceflight (a voluntary programme of the 17-member-state organisation) and gives no money to endeavours connected with the space station and astronauts.

More and photo:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7330925.stm

I've seen better picturs of ISS 

[Whitters]

ESA's Jules Verne ATV was used for the first time early this morning to raise the orbit of the International Space Station. A 740-second burn of the Automated Transfer Vehicle's main engines successfully lifted the altitude of the 280-tonne Station by around 4.5 km to a height of 342 km above the Earth's surface.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/SEMPEISZEFF_0.html

[Rick]

Europe's space freighter has undocked from the International Space Station after completing its mission to the orbiting platform.

The ship - dubbed Jules Verne - moved away from the rear of the ISS at 2129GMT, taking itself to a position some 5km below the station.

The freighter will enter the atmosphere in three weeks' time, on 29 September.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7598980.stm

[Rick]

Europe's biggest, most sophisticated spaceship is about to bring its six-month mission to an end by plunging into the Pacific in a ball of flames.

The "Jules Verne" freighter undocked from the space station three weeks ago packed with rubbish and will take its unwanted cargo into a destructive dive.

Most of the vehicle is expected to burn up in the atmosphere; only fragments will make it down to the ocean water.

The first of two engine firings to bring the ship down has been completed.

(In best BBC fashion, this story's been replaced by the one below...  )

[Rick]

Europe's "Jules Verne" space freighter has destroyed itself in a controlled burn-up over the southern Pacific.

The 13.5-tonne cargo ship had completed a six-month mission to the space station and was packed with the orbiting platform's rubbish.

Two engine firings were required to slow the freighter sufficiently to pull it into the atmosphere.

The European and US space agencies had chase planes in the air to try to capture the fireball on video.

Astronauts on the space station reported seeing the light from the falling freighter.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7641915.stm

[mickw]

GLASGOW, Scotland — Europe's unmanned space cargo vehicle successfully reentered the atmosphere over the south Pacific Ocean Sept. 29, breaking up into dozens of fragments that fell into the ocean along a pre-selected path that had been cleared of maritime traffic, European Space Agency (ESA) officials said.

Program managers expect that photographic data from two aircraft ESA hired from NASA, and an imager aboard the international space station flying overhead at the time, will provide precise data on the amount of debris that survived reentry.

More:  http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080929-sn-atv-reentry.html

Even more:  http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1513658585/bctid1825559897

[Rick]

I'm told the BBC has video on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7644111.stm

[mickw]

Wow 

[Mike]

So that's what a £1,000,000,000 firework looks like!