Jules Verne ATV Demonstration Day 2 sequence of events

31 March 2008

Today, mission controllers at ESA’s ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, will pace Jules Verne through a second day of crucial manoeuvres designed to demonstrate the vessel’s navigation capabilities. Follow ATV demo day 2 on: www.esa.int/atv.

The second demonstration day will test ATV close proximity manoeuvring and control including testing contingency manoeuvres for the ATV Control Centre and the ISS crew. ATV will manoeuvre to within 11 metres of the docking port of the ISS Russian Service Module Zvezda. ATV will also navigate for the first time using a laser-based optical system.

Demonstration Day 2 ends with the ISS crew sending an ESCAPE command sending ATV away from the Station.

Data collected during Demonstration Day 2 will be made available to ISS managers for their go-ahead to proceed with a first docking attempt on Thursday. Jules Verne ATV is scheduled to dock with ISS at 16:41 CEST (14:41 UT) on 3 April.

Demonstration Day 2 manoeuvres

Jules Verne ATV manoeuvres during Demonstration Day 2

Sequence of events

Note: all times subject to change

Time CEST   Activity                    Distance to ISS
14:26       Depart station point S-1/2  39 km
15:12       Arrive at station point S1  15.5 km
15:58       Arrive at station point S2  3.5 km
17:10       Arrive at station point S3  249 m
17.53       Retreat test
17:55       Hold test
17:59       Resume test
18:13       Arrive at station point S4  19 m
18:31       Arrive at station point S41 11 m
18:34       Retreat from S41  		11 m
18:36       Arrive at station point S4  19 m
18:38-18:45 Perform 'Escape' from S4    	

Today’s events will be streamed live on the ESA website (courtesy of NASA TV). The broadcast starts at 16:00 CEST (14:00 UT) and continues until 18:45 CEST (16:45 UT).