Today, February 24, at 16:45 CET the ATV-2 “Johannes Kepler” successfully rendezvoused and docked with the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Launched on 16 February by the European Space Agency (ESA), the ATV-2 will supply the astronauts with food and clothing plus several pieces of equipment for maintenance and operation of the ISS.
“Johannes Kepler” is the second European unmanned vehicle for periodic resupply of the International Space Station. The maiden ATV flight was made back in 2008 with the launch of “Jules Verne”. This vehicle has to carry out a series of demonstration manuevers before being cleared for docking with the International Space Station (ISS). Johannes Kepler, on the other, hand was able to head straight for its destination.
One of the most important missions of the ATV (automated transfer vehicle) is to reboost the ISS to compensate continual altitude loss due to atmospheric friction. The project, with an important Spanish participation, envisages a total of 5 cargo-replenishing trips to the space station.
Astrium is the company in charge of the development and production of the ATV. GMV has been involved right from the start of the ATV program, participating in the ESA’s preliminary navigation studies, providing mission analysis support for the CNES, developing the operation flight dynamics system (FDS) for the CNES’s Control Center, with the CNES as prime contractor.
GMV also furnished in situ support for flight dynamics operations throughout the whole ATV-1 mission, from launch to destructive reentry. It is the only Spanish firm that has worked in the CNES’s Toulouse Control Center.
For the ATV Johannes Kepler’s space flight, GMV has been responsible for maintenance and updating of the orbital mechanics system to bring it into line with any vehicle changes with respect to its forerunner and also for improving the system in light of the lessons learned from the first flight. Still a member of the orbital mechanics operations team, GMV is also responsible for the orbital mechanics database for operational deployment of the Flight Dynamics and for pre-flight system qualification tests.
The ATV-2 flight will be monitored and controlled at all times from the ATV Control Center (ATV-CC) in Toulouse, France. Despite weighing almost 20 tons the ATV can be maneuvered with centimetric precision.