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Science Jules Verne ATV completes mission with fiery re-entry
Science Jules Verne ATV completes mission with fiery re-entry | Jules Verne ATV completes mission with fiery re-entry |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Tuesday, 30 September 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 After delivering the supplies and reboosting the station, the ATV was loaded with waste and "dispensable Station items" for destruction on re-entry.Featured Whitepaper
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Science DiscussionsJules Verne undocked from the ISS on September 5. The 22 minute automatic process involved unhooking from the Station, allowing springs to separate the two. Once the ATV had drifted 3 m from the ISS, its control thrusters were used to move it to a position 5 km beneath the station. During the next three weeks various manoeuvres were carried out to position the ATV so that its re-entry could be observed from the ISS and from the observation planes that would be waiting over the South Pacific. The manoeuvres were carried out over an extended period in order to optimise fuel consumption. On September 29, the final deorbit burn of Jules Verne's engine reduced its speed sufficiently for it to enter the upper atmosphere 33 minutes later. The craft broke up at an altitude of 75 km, and the fragments that were not destroyed landed in an uninhabited area of the South Pacific. Photos of the re-entry are available on the ESA website. "Credit has to go to everyone involved in such a flawless mission," said John Ellwood, ESA's ATV project manager. "Not only to the ESA and industrial teams that brought the project to fruition, but also to the teams at the ATV Control Centre and around the world who have done a superb job while the spacecraft has been in orbit." The second ATV is under construction at EADS Astrium in Germany. |
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