ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaître moves ISS away from Space Debris

A view from the International Space Station with ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle 5, Georges Lemaître. 

Credit: ESA/NASA

The International Space Station was threatened by space debris last week but ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle 5, Georges Lemaître saved the day by firing its thrusters to push the orbital outpost and its six occupants out of harm's way.

This is the first time the Station's international partners have avoided space debris with such urgency.

Ground stations continuously track space junk, leftover hardware from defunct satellites, for potentially life-threatening collisions.

A fleck of paint can cause major damage travelling at 28 800 km/h. When they raise the alarm, ground teams can move the Station to a safer orbit.

The calculations sometimes take hours, this is rocket science, but fortunately, most of the time, the radar network gives ample warning.

Sometimes a dangerous object can slip through the net or its erratic behaviour makes accurate predictions difficult.

This is where ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle 5, Georges Lemaître came in on 27 October.

A piece of a Russian Kosmos-2251 satellite that broke up after colliding with another satellite in 2009 was on a collision course with the International Space Station.

The object was around the size of a hand and calculations showed it would pass within 4 km, too close for comfort.

Just six hours before potential impact, the five space Station agencies agreed to an emergency manoeuvre.

The ATV Control Centre team in Toulouse, France, triggered a boost of 1.8 km/h, enough to raise the 420-tonne Station by 1 km and out of harm's way.

This image of the International Space Station with the docked ESA's ATV-2 Johannes Kepler and Space Shuttle Endeavour was taken by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli from Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on 24 May 2011. 

Credit: ESA/NASA

Before 2012, if an object was spotted within 24 hours of a potential strike the astronauts returned to their spacecraft, prepared for evacuation and hoped for the best.

Since 2012, emergency manoeuvres at less than 24 hours' notice are possible using Russia's Progress supply ship, but none was in harbour earlier this week.

ATVs have been able to perform this move since last year, starting with ATV-4 Albert Einstein, but its services were not required during its mission.

Although this debris avoidance used a predefined manoeuvre, great care was taken to make sure that the move did not push the Station into a worse orbit or affect the docking of last week's Progress.

"This is what the ATV Control Centre team trains for," said ESA flight director Jean-Michel Bois.

"Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, we are ready to react and we practise often in simulations.

"Reacting so quickly to save the Space Station in real life was tense but rewarding."

ESA’s supply and support ferry ATV-5 Georges Lemaître approaches the International Space Station for docking. 

The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle docked with the weightless research centre on 12 August 2014. 

Credit: Roscosmos–O. Artemyev

In close coordination with the Station's control centres in Moscow, Russia and Houston, USA, the ATV team commanded a four-minute thruster burn starting at 17:42 GMT (18:42 CET).

The helping hand from Georges Lemaître was one of the last tricks up ATV's sleeve. The versatile vessels have achieved many firsts for ESA.

They are the largest European spacecraft ever launched and the only non-Russian vehicle to dock automatically with the Station.

After delivering more than 6.6 tonnes of supplies, fuel and gases, Georges Lemaître will undock in February and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, after demonstrating a new shallow reentry for planning Station decommissioning.

Soyuz TMA-03M and Progress as seen by ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers during his mission. Credit: ESA/NASA

"The debris avoidance demonstrates ATV's reliability and the great team behind mission control," concluded ESA's ATV-5 mission manager Massimo Cislaghi.

"With this manoeuvre, ATVs have met every requirement of the original design."

But the versatility does not end there. ATV technology will be a critical part of NASA's Orion, supplying power and life-support for the next generation of crewed spacecraft.

ESA’s supply and support ferry ATV Georges Lemaître approaches the International Space Station for docking. 

The fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle docked with the weightless research centre on 12 August 2014. 

Credit: Roscosmos–O. Artemyev

ISS Re-supply Missions: Five spaceships parked at the Space Station

Five spacecraft are parked at the International Space Station including the Soyuz TMA-14M and Dragon which docked this week. 

Credit: NASA

Mars isn't the only place in the Solar System that was busy this week with arriving spacecraft.

This week the International Space Station welcomed two arriving spacecraft, bringing the total of docked ships at the ISS to five.

Last night, the Expedition 41/42 crew arrived—peeling in on one solar panel on their Soyuz TMA-14M, with the first female cosmonaut to be part of an ISS crew,

Elena Serova along with her crewmates cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev, and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore.

They took the Soyuz "fast track," arriving at the station in just under six hours after launch.

One of the craft's solar panels jammed and couldn't deploy, but the crew docked to Poisk docking compartment without indecent.

The arrival of Wilmore, Samokutyaev and Serova returns the station's crew complement to six.

Already on board are Commander Max Suraev of Roscosmos, Reid Wiseman of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency. They have been aboard the complex since May.

Earlier this week, on September 23, the SpaceX Dragon capsule arrived with over 2.5 tons of science experiments and supplies for the crew.

Also docked to the space station is the Soyuz ship that will take Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst home, a Progress resupply ship and the European ATV-5 supply ship.

There are two more cargo missions targeted to launch to the space station before the end of the year.

Orbital Sciences just announced October 20 as the next launch date for their Cygnus commercial space freighter.

It will occupy the same Harmony node port as Dragon when it leaves in a few weeks. When Cygnus vacates the Harmony node port, SpaceX CRS-5 will replace it in December.

ISS crew capture Milky Way from orbit

Image Credit: NASA

One of the Expedition 41 crew members aboard the Earth-orbiting International Space Station on Sept. 13, 2014 captured this image of a starry sky.

The white panel at left belonging to ESA's ATV-5 spacecraft, which is docked with the orbital outpost, obstructs the view of Scorpius.

The red star Antares is directly to the left of the bottom of the second ATV panel from the top.

The two stars that are close together and on the lower left of the photo comprise Shaula, the tip of the scorpion’s tail.

The open cluster close to Shaula is M7. The hardware at bottom right is part of one of the station's solar panels.

M7: Open Star Cluster in Scorpius

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaître: Historical Souvenirs and Box Sets onboard

The European Space Agency (ESA) produced 100 limited edition kits commemorating the flights of its Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to resupply the International Space Station.

Credit: ESA

Packed onboard Europe's final space freighter to dock with the International Space Station is a small blue box.

It is not the most important payload onboard the "Georges Lemaître," the name that the European Space Agency (ESA) gave its fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), but the box's contents represent the history that was made and the science that was advanced by the fleet of five spacecraft and their namesakes.

The kit, which was developed by ESA's education office, includes embroidered mission patches and matching lapel pins for each of the ATV flights to the International Space Station, including the Georges Lemaître, which arrived at the orbiting laboratory on Tuesday (Aug. 12) carrying more than seven tons of fuel, supplies and experiments.

With the exception of the items commemorating the first ATV mission in March 2008, each of the patches and pins for the four subsequent flights have the same design but differ in colour.

Beyond the souvenirs though, the small blue box contains five DVDs, each with a different educational video based on the five European visionaries whose names were used for the five space freighters.

"Jules Verne, Johannes Kepler, Edoardo Amaldi, Albert Einstein and Georges Lemaître form the inspiration to explain the principles of physics for young and old," ESA wrote on its website, describing the videos.

The box set launched to the space station is one of only 100 limited edition kits that were produced. ESA plans to further share the videos from the DVDs by posting them online during the Georges Lemaître mission.

"Each ATV is named after a scientist or individual who fundamentally changed the way in which we understand the universe," said Anu Ojha, the director of education and space communications for the National Space Center in Leicester, England, as a part of his introduction to each of the videos.

"And this series of films aims to examine the scientific breakthroughs and visionary concepts that made history."

The "Georges Lemaître" Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5), as photographed by an Expedition 40 crew member, is seen as it is about to dock to the International Space Station. 

CREDIT: NASA/ESA

Beginning with Jules Verne, the pioneering French author of science fiction and namesake for ATV-1, the videos are themed around the scientific concepts that each luminary advanced.

For Verne, who penned "De la Terre à la Lune" ("From the Earth to the Moon"), ESA's film focuses on the science of leaving the Earth.

German astronomer Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion are represented on the set's second disc, devoted to "orbits and body motion in space" as they related to the flight of ATV-2.

ESA's third freighter (ATV-3), named for the Italian physicist Edoardo Amaldi, is featured in a video about the science of cosmic rays and space travel.

The film for ATV-4, the Albert Einstein, explores the iconic scientist's ideas about the "relativity of space and time."

Also, Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître's early work on what would later be known as the Big Bang theory is represented in ESA's video about the evolving universe.

Although not included with the box, ESA's education office is also introducing a new set of resources to compliment the kits.

"Teach with Space" will offer demonstrations and guides intended to "bring the excitement of space into the classroom to inspire the next generation," according to the space agency.

ESA is distributing most of the remaining kits to schools, but has set aside five of the boxes to give away online.

To qualify for one of the limited edition kits, ESA is asking the public to create their own videos that both explain and demonstrate a law of physics, chemistry or biology and its relevance to space.

The best five of the videos submitted through ESA's ATV website will win.

"Ideally the demonstrations should be practical to recreate in a classroom or outside safely but if you happen to have an MRI scanner in your garage and think you can use it to demonstrate the existence of dark matter, by all means send it in," ESA advises.

The deadline to enter the education challenge is Oct. 31, 2014.

NASA Robotic Refueling Mission: RRM Delivered by ATV-5

View of the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) module outside of the International Space Station as photographed by an Expedition 28 crew member in 2011.

Image Credit: NASA

NASA’s fix-it investigation, the newest thing on the International Space Station, is the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM).

The award-winning endeavour moved one step closer to its 2.0 update with the delivery of new RRM hardware aboard the European Automated Transfer Vehicle-5, which docked with the space station today.

The RRM module, affixed to an exterior space station platform since 2011, now awaits the robotic transfer of two new task boards and a borescope inspection tool that will equip RRM for a new round of satellite-servicing demonstrations.

A new complement of hardware will outfit NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission (center on International Space Station platform) for a fresh set of satellite-servicing demonstrations.

Image Credit: NASA

“The Robotic Refueling Mission is about to get a refresh, and we couldn’t be more excited,” explains Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office, the team responsible for RRM’s development and operations on orbit.

A new RRM tool named VIPIR – the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot, was delivered to the International Space Station aboard the Automated Transfer Vehicle-5.

Image Credit: NASA

“This is the beauty of doing research on the space station. We’re not tied to the original hardware complement we sent up three years ago."

"The cadence of space station supply flights gives us the opportunity to swap equipment so we can tackle a new set of technology demonstrations.”

Since 2011, the duo of RRM and Dextre, the Canadian Space Agency robot that acts as a “handyman” for external station activities, has been steadily evaluating a set of NASA-developed, game-changing technologies that would enable remotely controlled robots to eventually repair and service spacecraft in orbit.

The overarching challenge facing the NASA RRM team is devising and manufacturing new robotic, tele-operated tools and techniques to service spacecraft that were not designed for in-flight service.

Robotic refueling and the tasks accompanying it – including blanket cutting, wire cutting and cap and fastener removal – were the primary focus of RRM’s first set of technology demonstrations.

In its second phase of activities, RRM will move past its refueling roots to test out the inspection capabilities of a new space tool named VIPIR, the Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot.

The team will also tackle the intermediary steps leading toward spacecraft cryogen replenishment and host a demonstration of next-generation solar cell technology and a carbon nanotube experiment.

“The common thread is building up NASA’s collection of enabling satellite-servicing capabilities,” says Reed.

“Every capability translates into another option a satellite owner could potentially choose to keep his or her satellite operating longer and performing optimally.”

ESA Ariane-5 ES Launch: Last ATV-5 (Georges Lemaître) launched to ISS

Liftoff of an Ariane 5 launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana with ESA’s last Automated Transfer Vehicle to the International Space Station, on 29 July 2014. 

Georges Lemaître is the fifth ATV built and launched by ESA as part of Europe’s contribution to cover the operational costs for using the Space Station. 

Credits: ESA–S. Corvaja, 2014 

The fifth in the series of the largest spacecraft ever built in Europe is also the heaviest load an Ariane 5 has ever launched.

ATV-5 is set to carry almost 6.6 tonnes of supplies to the orbital outpost, including a record amount of dry cargo: around 2682 kg.

Georges Lemaîtres will deliver experiments, equipment, spare parts, water, air and even artwork to the six astronauts living in space.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will be responsible for docking and unloading the cargo when ATV arrives at its destination around two weeks after launch.

A final view of ATV Georges Lemaître through a hatch in the payload fairing atop the Ariane 5 launcher, in the BAF (Final Assembly Building), on 26 July 2014.

Credit: ESA

ESA ATV-5, Georges Lemaître, Fully Loaded and Hatch Closed

ESA’s fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Georges Lemaître, is now scheduled for launch to the International Space Station at 23:44 GMT on 29 July (01:44 CEST 30 July) on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

ATV-5 will deliver more than six tonnes of cargo to the Station, again breaking the record for the heaviest spacecraft launched on Ariane.

Everything has been loaded and the ferry is now sealed until it reaches the orbital outpost.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, currently on board the ISS, will be the first to open the hatch of ATV-5, Georges Lemaître, in space when he takes responsibility for the cargo as ‘loadmaster’.

Alexander will manage the unloading of 6.6 tonnes of experiments, spare parts, clothing, food, fuel, air, oxygen and water for the six astronauts living in the 'weightless' (Zero Gravity) laboratory.

ATV-5, Georges Lemaître showing the closed hatch after completion of cargo loading.

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaitre loaded with cargo after integration with Ariane 5 launcher

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

Europe's fifth, and final, Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is now integrated with its Ariane 5 launcher, enabling final cargo loading in preparation for Arianespace's July 24 mission from French Guiana.

The ATV is named after Belgian physicist and father of the Big Bang theory, Georges Lemaitre, and it will deliver fuel, air and more than 2,600 kg. of dry cargo to the International Space Station.

ESA ATV-5 cargo racks filled with cargo for ISS.

In addition, this ATV resupply spacecraft will perform maneuvers to maintain the facility's nominal orbit, as well as test new rendezvous sensors in space.

Using a hoist system set-up in Ariane 5's Final Assembly Building at the Spaceport, the remaining cargo is being loaded through the ATV's top hatch, carefully securing these bags supplied by the European, U.S. and Japanese space agencies.

The ATV program, managed by the European Space Agency (ESA), is part of Europe's contribution to the International Space Station's operation. Prime contractor is Airbus Defence and Space, which also is the industrial architect for Ariane 5.

All ATVs have been orbited by Ariane 5 launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and last June's flight with "Albert Einstein."

Arianespace's latest ATV mission in support of International Space Station operations is designated Flight VA219 in the company's numbering system, and will utilize an Ariane 5 ES version of the heavy-lift workhorse.

ESA ATV-5 Georges Lemaître: Testing the solar panels for ATV-5

The solar panels for ATV Georges Lemaître undergoing testing at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

The launch of ATV-5 on board an Ariane-5 is scheduled for 25 July 2014.

Credits: ESA-CNES-Arianespace /Optique Video du CSG - S. Martin

ISS Expedition 40/41 crew prepare for their mission

The crew members of Expedition 40/41 pose in front of a Soyuz spacecraft simulator in Star City, Russia. From left, Alex Gerst (European Space Agency), Max Suraev (Roscosmos) and Reid Wiseman (NASA). 

Credit: NASA

European Space Agency astronaut Alex Gerst during training prior to Expedition 40/41 in 2014. 

Credit: European Space Agency

The crew (who lifts off in May) will have an action-packed mission.

It will include the arrival of the last Automated Transfer Vehicle, Georges Lemaître (ATV-5) and, if fixes on a NASA spacesuit leak allows, two American maintenance spacewalks.

There also are 162 experiments to perform (this according to Gerst) and if there's time, checking out our home planet.

"Earth observation was not one of the primary goals that [station] was designed for," he cautioned in a phone interview, but he added that one of its strengths is there are people on board the orbiting laboratory that can fill in the gaps for other missions.

Alex Gerst (who was a volcano researcher before becoming an astronaut) pointed out that if a volcano erupts, a typical Earth satellite would look straight down at it.

ISS Astronauts can swing around in the ESA Cupola attached to Node 3, and get different views quickly, which could allow scientists to measure things such as the volcano plume height.

ESA ATV-5 testing new rendezvous sensors

ESA ATV Albert Einstein shortly after undocking from the International Space Station 28 October 2013. 

Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) are the most complex space vehicles ever developed in Europe and are the largest and most capable resupply ships to dock with the Space Station. 

Credit: ESA/NASA

ESA's space freighter ATV Georges Lemaître, set for launch this summer,will test new rendezvous sensors in space as it approaches the International Space Station.

ESA has set its sights on allowing future spacecraft to rendezvous with 'uncooperative' targets, such as orbiting debris or a Mars sample capsule.

The Laser InfraRed Imaging Sensors (LIRIS) demonstrator on the last Automated Transfer Vehicle ATV, is the first step towards an uncooperative rendezvous in space.

On future missions, infrared cameras and lidar sensors – the light equivalent of radar – would scan the targets while onboard computers processed the data using new guidance navigation and control software.

At 30 km from the target, infrared cameras would be used before lidar took over from 3.5 km out to docking.

Since the first ATV was launched in 2008 they have docked flawlessly with the Space Station using satellite navigation at long range and optical sensors close in, bouncing light off reflectors on the orbital outpost.

ESA contractors Airbus Defence and Space (EADS), with Sodern and Jena-Optronik, proposed using ATV-5 to demonstrate the new approach for future projects.

The infrared camera has been provided by French company Sodern, with German-based Jena-Optronik supplying the lidar.

A simulated image of how ATV-5’s technology demonstrator will ‘see’ the International Space Station using lidar, the light equivalent of radar.

The Laser Infrared Imaging Sensors (LIRIS) demonstrator on the last ATV is the first step towards an ‘uncooperative’ rendezvous in space.

ESA has set its sights on allowing future spacecraft to rendezvous with ‘uncooperative’ targets, such as orbiting debris or a Mars sample capsule. 

Credit: ESA

ATV-5 is the last in the series to deliver supplies to the Station and its mission offers a unique opportunity to space-test LIRIS for comparison with the operational navigation sensors.

Recorders inside ATV's pressurised cargo bay will store the data for later download and analysis.

ATV Albert Einstein, Europe’s supply and support ferry, docked with the International Space Station on 15 June 2013, some ten days after its launch from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. 

Credit: ESA/NASA

The hardware is now being installed on ATV at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

ESA ATV-5 Haptics-1 experiment: Touchy-Feely Body-Mounted Joystick

Body-mounted astronaut joystick for the Haptics-1 experiment, developed by ESA's Telerobotics and Haptics Laboratory as part of the multi-agency Meteron (Multi-Purpose End-to-End Robotic Operation Network) initiative, investigating telerobotics for space. 

The Haptics-1 experiment is being flown to the ISS by ATV-5 in summer 2014. 

Credit: ESA

Stowed inside ESA’s next supply ship to the International Space Station will be one of the most advanced joysticks ever built, designed to test the remote control of robots on the ground from up in orbit.

Due to be launched this summer, the Automated Transfer Vehicle will deliver more than five tonnes of propellant, supplies and experiments to the orbital outpost.

The consignment includes the first sustained test of how astronauts experience touch-based feedback in weightlessness.

The experiment comes down to a deceptively simple-looking lever that can be moved freely to play basic Pong-style computer games.

Performance readings from these games, along with follow-up questionnaires, will analyse the effects on human motor control when exposed to long-term weightlessness, and how feedback feels in orbit.

ATV-5 logo

Behind the scenes, a complex suite of servo motors can withstand any force an astronaut operator might unleash on it, while generating forces that the astronaut will feel in turn – just like a standard video gaming joystick as a player encounters an in-game obstacle.

The difference in orbit is that, to quote Isaac Newton, ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction’ – so to prevent the joystick’s force feedback pushing its free-floating user around it is mounted to a body harness that can be fixed in turn to standard Station equipment.

“Getting the hardware to be extremely precise yet incredibly sturdy was the project’s main challenge,” explains André Schiele, head of ESA's Telerobotics and Haptics Laboratory, overseeing the experiment.

Haptics-1 setup

“The resulting system can produce minute forces most people are not sensitive enough to feel, but astronauts could kick it and it will still work and respond correctly.”

Seven different tests are planned so far, with more in the pipeline – new tests can be uploaded easily.

A touchscreen tablet will be used to load software and conduct the experiments.


A video trailer of the proposed ESA Project METERON (Multi-Purpose End-To-End Robotic Operation Network). 

METERON is a technology demonstration experiment including the International Space Station ISS. A set of novel haptic control devices (Force-reflecting joystick, exoskeleton, 3D display) will be used by Astronauts from on-board the ISS to control robotic systems on ground. 

Technology validation will be for transparent bi-lateral telemanipulation, shared autonomous operations and autonomous operations. 

The METERON experiment will validate technology candidates for future exploration mission usage. 

METERON is an ESA-led mission proposal with intended participation by DLR, Roscosmos and NASA

ESA's ATV-5 for launch by Arianespace begins its pre-flight checkout

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) "Georges Lemaitre" has begun pre-flight checkout in the Spaceport's clean room facilities, following its arrival in French Guiana for a scheduled Ariane 5 flight next year.

As the fifth and final ATV to be launched by Arianespace under current arrangements with the European Space Agency, this spacecraft's Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) has now been removed from its special shipping container in the S5C preparation hall.

The ICC makes up 60 percent of the Automated Transfer Vehicle's total volume, with the capacity of ferrying up to 6.6 metric tons of cargo - both dry and fluid - on the spacecraft's servicing mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Incorporating a two-part design, the Integrated Cargo Carrier includes a pressurized module for docking to the space station, where all dry materials are contained.

Up to two ISS astronauts can access this section while the spacecraft is attached to the orbital facility, working to unload supplies or conduct experiments.

Fluid cargo - such as propellant for refueling of the International Space Station - is stored in the ICC's non-pressurized area and transferred to the space station through pipes or manually operated hoses.

Prior to Georges Lemaitre's ESA-targeted launch date in 2014, final assembly of the spacecraft will be carried out at the Spaceport, including the Integrated Cargo Carrier, the Service Module solar panels and the Separation and Distancing Module (SDM) that links the ATV to its Ariane 5 vehicle.

Designated Georges Lemaitre after the Belgian physicist and father of the Big Bang theory, the fifth Automated Transfer Vehicle will resupply the International Space Station, as well as perform maneuvers to maintain this manned facility's nominal orbit.

An Astrium-led industry consortium is responsible for producing this series of resupply spacecraft under the European Space Agency-managed program.

To date all four Automated Transfer Vehicles have been orbited by Ariane 5 ES launchers, beginning with "Jules Verne" in March 2008, which was followed by "Johannes Kepler" in February 2011, "Edoardo Amaldi" in March 2012, and this June's flight with "Albert Einstein."