The ESA's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship has passed a final battery of tests and been approved for docking with the International Space Station on Thursday. The craft launched on March 9th and has been performing a shake-down cruise to be certified by ESA, NASA, and Roskosmos for docking with the ISS.
The dedicated cargo ship, the first from the ESA, carries aboard nine tons of fuel and supplies for the ISS and its crew. This weekend the craft navigated from its parking location where it stayed during the space shuttle Endeavour's recent marathon construction mission to the station at 39 km distant, to a point a mere 3.5 km away. The ATV used relative GPS measurments, comparing the triangulation position of the ATV and that of the ISS to accurately reckon its distance from the station.
Today Jules Verne performed a second demonstration day, coming within 11 meters of the station. The cargo ship established a data link with the ISS and navigated around it with laser range-finding sensors. Having successfully completed the maneuvering tests as well as multiple tracking systems to ensure a safe docking even if a system fails, the ATV system was approved for docking with the ISS. Right now docking is scheduled for 9:01 AM on Thursday, April 3rd. After docking, Jules Verne will spend six months docked with the ISS. As the onboard supplies are removed the craft will be filled with trash from the crew and eventually will be jettisoned and deliberately destroyed in atmospheric reentry over the Pacific Ocean.
The ESA's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship has passed a final battery of tests and been approved for docking with the International Space Station on Thursday. The craft launched on March 9th and has been performing a shake-down cruise to be certified by ESA, NASA, and Roskosmos for docking with the ISS.
