Europe's new uncrewed space cargo ship, the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), completed a flawless docking with the International Space Station at 1452 GMT on Thursday.
The rendezvous was completely controlled by the ATV's sophisticated onboard software, which guided the vehicle into the docking port of the station's Zvezda module using GPS and optical signals.
European Space Agency officials have greeted the event as an important achievement for the European space programme. "This is an amazing moment," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's director general. "Europe is now a full participant in the space station."
NASA chief Michael Griffin agrees: "Together with the arrival of the Columbus Module at the ISS earlier this year, the success of the ATV marks the arrival of Europe as a full-fledged space power."
During its journey, the vehicle paused at a series of points while ground control monitored its progress to ensure that it was performing correctly.
The rendezvous officially began at 1031 GMT, when Jules Verne reached a point 39 km behind the ISS. At this point, the vehicle began using GPS signals to calculate its position relative to the ISS. It recalculated these coordinates every second to readjust its 28 rocket burners to bring it towards the station.
When it closed in to just 3.5 kilometres behind the ISS, it paused while the Russian Kurs radar sensor was activated on the ISS. The space station astronauts used this system to confirm that the ATV was in the correct position and travelling at the correct speed for a docking.
A series of four separate rocket boosts then successfully directed the vehicle to a point just 249 metres behind the ISS. From this point onwards, the vehicle navigated with high-precision laser sensors to calculate its orientation and distance from the ISS.
When the vehicle was 11 metres behind the space station, the astronauts and ground control checked that the ATV was correctly aligned with the docking port on the ISS before giving the final go ahead for docking.
The ATV then slowly closed in on the space station at a rate of 7 centimetres per second, until it was close enough to shoot out a probe into a socket on the docking port at 1445 GMT. The ATV's docking system then retracted this probe to pull itself into the space station, and the ISS closed hooks around the ATV's docking system to seal the vehicle in place.
By 1452 GMT, the two spacecraft had completely synchronised their power supplies and computer systems.
After air from the space station is injected between the door of the ISS and the ATV, astronauts will be able to enter Jules Verne. They are expected to remove its stored cargo in two days' time.
By 1st Man On Mars
Fri Apr 04 03:36:17 BST 2008
This is great news, now that we have a unmanned space craft there is no need to worry about the force put on the ship when leaving earth, aside from what could damage cargo. This means that we can build a, I can not find the name of it now, but it would essentially be a bullet train like magnetic track that would take the space craft to a higher and hopefully faster lift-off speed and altitude. A rail in a loop, to build up speed, that will then go up the side of a mountain, could reduce the cost of a lunch in the long run. There will be reduced fuel costs and pollution generated, as long as the rail is powered by a renewable energy source. The time between launched should give solar a chance to recharge the energy storage chambers, molten salt or compressed air and any extra can be feed to the grid.By Stephen Muller
Fri Apr 04 06:46:38 BST 2008
The word you're looking for is possibly "railgun"By Gio
Fri Apr 04 07:55:01 BST 2008
Frankly I don't think that the whole point to this is the launching. It is rather the capability of a computerized system (made in Europe) to dock automatically to Alpha. As far as launching, robotics and automatic launches have been performed since the beginning of space age (remember the Sputnik?). Any alternative (and less expensive) means of getting payload into orbit (and beyond) is certainly welcome, but I'd say this particular achievement has very little to do with it.By Biff Tyler
Fri Apr 04 10:24:19 BST 2008
Seems to be a lot of trouble to go to, to get a cheap 'lunch'.By Kcanti
Fri Apr 04 12:45:22 BST 2008
Frankly im quite worried, now they have completed the ATV, whats stopping them from making astronoughts obselete.By Joe Shlabotnick
Fri Apr 04 20:44:27 BST 2008
"im"? "whats"? "astronoughts"? "obselete"? Is that a chimp typing?By Bilal M
Wed Apr 09 13:52:42 BST 2008
Oh stop it..why do people go ape on spelling on these mesg boardsAll comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.
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17:45 21 August 2008
11:17 21 August 2008
