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.

Clumped galaxies give General Relativity its toughest test

More than 600 000 galaxies from the BOSS survey were utilized to measure the strength of gravitational interactions of galaxies extremely far away from each other. 

This is a visual representation of that measurement; the amount that the circles are distorted, or squashed from perfect concentric rings, indicates the velocity that galaxies are falling towards each other and hence the strength of the gravitational interactions. 

Credit: BOSS/U. Portsmouth

Nearly 100 years since Albert Einstein developed general relativity, the theory has passed its toughest test yet in explaining the properties of observable Universe.

The most precise measurements to date of the strength of gravitational interactions between distant galaxies show perfect consistency with general relativity's predictions.

The results will be presented by Dr Lado Samushia at the National Astronomy Meeting 2014 in Portsmouth on Wednesday 25 June.

Using the observed distortions in galaxy positions, the team were able to measure the strength of gravity with a precision of 6 per cent, the strongest constraint of its kind as yet.

The measurements turned out to be perfectly consistent with the predictions of Einstein's general relativity theory.

"Gravity is the main driving force behind the growth of structure in the Universe. According to general relativity, gravity is a manifestation of the space-time curvature, massive objects curve the space-time around them, which affects the movement of other objects around them."

"It's a very elegant theory that has been successful in explaining the outcomes of many experiments, however it is not the only theory of gravity," explained Samushia.

"Theoretical physicists have proposed many alternative theories and modifications of general relativity and the challenge for observational physicists is to test the alternative theories with ever increasing precision."

Each point on the left panel represents a galaxy, while a right panel is an actually image of one of the patches of the sky observed by SDSS. 

Credit: SDSS.

More information: The research has been published in Samushia et al, "The Clustering of Galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS): measuring growth rate and geometry", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society vol. 439, p. 3504, 2014. 

A preprint of the paper is available.

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 Albert Einstein undocks from ISS

The European Space Agency’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) undocks from the aft port of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module. Image Credit: NASA TV

The European Space Agency’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4), also known as the “Albert Einstein,” undocked from the aft port of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module at 4:55 a.m. EDT Monday.

Its departure sets the stage for the relocation of a Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the station and the arrival of three new crew members.

Expedition 37 Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Oleg Kotov, who together closed up the hatches to the ATV-4 Friday, monitored the automated departure from a control panel inside Zvezda, ready to take control of the process if needed.

Meanwhile Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin photographed the departing space freighter to capture imagery of its docking assembly and a set of sensors at the forward end of the spacecraft.

At the time of undocking, the station was orbiting about 260 miles above Kazakhstan.

Fyodor Yurchikhin

ATV-4, now filled with trash and unneeded items, fired its thrusters to back a safe distance away from the orbiting complex.

An engine firing Saturday will send it into the Earth’s atmosphere for a planned destructive re-entry over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific Ocean.

The “Albert Einstein,” named in honour of the famed German-born theoretical physicist and icon of modern science, delivered more than 7 tons of food, fuel and supplies to the orbiting complex when it docked automatically on June 15.

During its time at the station, the ATV-4 also provided an additional reboost capability for the complex, as flight controllers periodically commanded its engines to fire to adjust the station’s orbit.

The fifth and final ATV, designated the “Georges Lemaître” after the Belgian astronomer who first proposed the theory of the expansion of the universe, is scheduled to launch in mid-2014 for a six-month mission at the station.

More than 32 feet long -- about the size of a traditional London double-decker bus – the ATV is the largest and heaviest vehicle in the station’s resupply fleet.

The departure of ATV-4 clears the way for Parmitano, Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg to relocate their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft from its docking port on the Rassvet module to the newly vacated Zvezda port on Nov. 1.

ESA ATV-4 docked to ISS Zvezda Module: Ready for Action

ATV-4 docked to Zvezda.

Albert Einstein, ESA’s unmanned cargo ferry at the International Space Station, will start pumping propellants today into the orbital outpost. 

This will be followed by air and oxygen transfers before it resumes boosting the Station’s orbit.

ATV-4 is the fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle to serve the Station; it was launched on 5 June and reached the complex nine days later. Since then, this European cargo carrier has been firmly attached to the Station, acting as an additional module.

All 2489 kg of dry cargo has now been carried into the Station and the crew has already loaded 1213 kg of waste into ATV.

Around two more tonnes of unused equipment, rubbish and other material will be packed into the vehicle before it completes its mission in spectacular fashion as a cosmic rubbish removal van in late October, burning up safely as it reenters the atmosphere.

So far, ATV’s mission has been quiet, as everything goes according to plan. “We like having this kind of mission,” says Jean-Michel Bois, Head of the ESA Operations Team at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France.

“Of course, there have been small issues – there always are – but they keep us on our toes. Everything is in a great state and ATV is working beautifully.”

The 60-strong team from ESA, France’s CNES space agency and industry at the control centre constantly monitor ATV’s health and they are always ready for unscheduled actions, like avoiding orbital debris by changing the Station’s orbit with ATV’s powerful engines.

Albert Einstein has already preformed a major planned reboost, using 200 kg of propellant and raising the Station’s orbit by about 10 km.

The only significant unplanned event came last week, when one of ATV’s three computers was automatically shut down by onboard software.

Then a second computer failed on Sunday – not a problem as ATV can operate fine with just one unit.

Even so, critical activities require all computers to be working normally so some of the Toulouse centre’s key personnel cut their holidays short to tackle the problem.

With this additional help, the two computers were soon restarted. ATV was then ready to go ahead with preparations for the propellant transfer.

The ESA ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France.

The fuel pipes were pressurised on 31 July, leaving ATV ready to pump 860 kg of fuel and oxidiser into the tanks of Zarya module on Thursday afternoon.

All of the available propellants will be transferred during the 1.5-hour operation, after which the pipes will be purged and evacuated to avoid any problems when ATV undocks.

Then air and oxygen will flow into the Station on 12 and 13 August. ATV-4 holds 66.3 kg of air and 33.3 kg of pure oxygen for the crew. It also arrived with 564 kg of water in its tanks, 23% of which has already been pumped into the Station’s tanks.

On 14 August, ATV will light up its engines for another orbit reboost, followed by another on 28 August.

According to planning, ATV will undock and head for the fiery end to its mission on 28 October.

ESA ATV-4 Albert Einstein Docks with ISS

ESA's ATV-4 (Albert Einstein), a robotic freighter bearing 6.6 tonnes of cargo docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

The fourth of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) berthed with the ISS 10 days after being launched by Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, it said.

The resupply ship, named after Albert Einstein, is laden with food, water, oxygen, science experiments and special treats for the ISS astronauts.

It made contact with the ISS at 1407 GMT, the ESA said, about 20 minutes later than originally expected.

The robot space freighter is the size of a double-decker bus—10 metres (33 feet) long and 4.5 metres (15 feet) in diameter.

It is designed to find its way automatically to the ISS, navigating by starlight and using its onboard thrusters to gently dock with the manned orbital outpost.

ESA is contracted to build five ATVs as part of its contribution to the US-led ISS project.

During its four-month mission, the ATV will act as a store room and additional living quarters for the ISS.

It will also use its thrusters to boost the station, which is in low Earth orbit and loses altitude because of lingering atmospheric friction, to higher altitudes.

The ATV is set to undock in October filled with about six tonnes of garbage and human waste, and burn up over the Pacific.

ESA Ariane-5 Launch picture

Arianespace's unmanned Ariane 5 rocket, carrying the automated transfer vehicle (ATV) Albert Einstein in French Guiana. 

The ATV will resupply the International Space Station with 14,500 pounds of propellant, food, experiments, water and oxygen

Picture: Getty Images

ESA ATV-4: European cargo freighter Albert Einstein separates from Ariane-5 launcher

Europe's heaviest-ever cargo carrier to the International Space Station successfully separated from its rocket launcher an hour after liftoff on Wednesday to start a 10-day journey to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Albert Einstein was rocketed into space from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 5 launcher at 6:52:11 pm local time (21:52:11 GMT).

It separated as planned on reaching an altitude of 260 kilometres (160 miles).

"ATV Albert Einstein has separated from our launcher," Stephane Israel, chief executive of satellite launch firm Arianespace announced at the control centre in Kourou.

The ATV-4 is ferrying a record cargo of 6.6 tonnes to the ISS—food, fuel, water, oxygen, science experiments and special treats for the orbiting crew.

The robot freighter must now deploy its four energy-generating solar panels to start its autonomous navigation, guided by starlight, to the space station.

It is set to dock with the ISS on June 15 at an altitude of 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the planet—at a speed of some 28,000 kilometres (18,000 miles) per hour.

ESA Ariane-5 with ATV-4 Albert Einstein on board, successful launch

The ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" Automated Transfer Vehicle launches atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on June 5, 2013.

ATV-4 is the penultimate ATV of the present range, to be built and launched by ESA.

CREDIT: NASA TV

The European Space Agency launched its penultimate mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday (June 5), expending great energy to lift a record amount of mass aboard a spacecraft named for the scientist famous for equating the two quantities with the expression "E=mc^2."

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4), an unmanned cargo freighter, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 5:52 p.m. EDT (2152 GMT).

The second to last of ESA's five planned station resupply spacecraft launched since 2008, ATV-4 was named "Albert Einstein" after the iconic physicist known for the theory of relativity

ATV-4 is the first spaceship to bear Einstein's name, at the suggestion of the Swiss delegation to the European Space Agency. Einstein was born in Germany but studied and spent his early career in Switzerland.

Lifting off from Kourou, the jungle spaceport along South America's northeast coast, ATV-4 soared spaceward with Europe's largest-ever load of dry cargo for the station.

Packed with science experiments, crew supplies, a 3D printed tool box and even copies of Einstein's manuscript explaining the foundation for the general theory of relativity, the craft is destined to dock with the orbiting laboratory on June 15.

Europe's ATV-4 ready to deliver essential cargo to Space Station

ESA’s fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, is ready for launch on an Ariane 5 to the International Space Station on 5 June from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Liftoff is set for 23:52 CEST (21:52 GMT), and three hours and four minutes later the vessel will separate from the launcher to begin ten days of health checks and orbital manoeuvres, bringing it to an automated docking with the Station on 15 June.

ATV Albert Einstein, named after the scientist most famous for developing the theory of relativity, will deliver essential supplies and reboost the Station’s altitude during its planned five-month stay in orbit.

With a launch mass of 20 235 kg, it is the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe, and it is carrying the largest load of dry cargo yet to be ferried by any ATV.

The spacecraft is four vehicles in one, bringing equipment and supplies, replenishing the Station’s propellant tanks, keeping the orbital outpost aloft with its boosts, and providing a module for the astronauts to live in.

ESA set for record-breaking Ariane 5 ES launch carrying ATV-4

Nearly 40 years ago, European countries worried by US and Soviet dominance of space gave the green light to the first Arianespace rocket, a small launcher capable of hoisting a satellite payload of just 1.8 tonnes—the equivalent mass of two small cars.

On Wednesday, the fifth and mightiest generation of Arianes is set to take a whopping 20.2 tonnes into orbit, a cargo craft the size of a double-decker bus and a record for Europe, proud engineers say.

The payload is the fourth cargo delivery by the European Space Agency (ESA) to the International Space Station (ISS), bringing food, water, oxygen, scientific experiments and special treats to the orbiting crew.

An Ariane 5 ES is scheduled to blast off from ESA's base at Kourou in French Guiana at 6:52 pm (2152 GMT) Wednesday, taking aloft an Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4), a robot space truck dubbed the Albert Einstein.

Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4)

The cargo craft will carry almost seven tonnes of dry and fluid cargo for its five-month mission.

About an hour after liftoff, somewhere over New Zealand, the ATV, some 10 metres (33 feet) long, will detach from the rocket's upper stage and then deploy its four energy-generating solar panels and navigate autonomously, guided by starlight, to the space station.

It will dock with the ISS on July 15 at an altitude of about 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the planet.

Bart Reijnen

"By then it has a velocity of 28,000 kilometres (18,000 miles) per hour, and has to fly to a destination (the docking mechanism) about 60 cm (23 inches) in width," said Bart Reijnen, head of orbital systems at the EADS corporation's Astrium space company which built the lifeline craft.

"It has to fly there fully autonomously and dock with this target of 60 cm with a precision of six cm (2.4 inches). That is something that might be difficult to imagine."

The craft has enough fuel to make three docking attempts if something were to go wrong during the final approach, said Jean-Michel Bois, ATV operations manager in Toulouse, France, from where the vessel's flight path will be monitored.

In the case of a failed attempt, the ATV would retreat from the ISS and go into a different orbit, returning two days later to try again.

This has never happened, said Bois, adding: "I cross my fingers."

The Albert Einstein will boast the largest assortment of goods yet delivered to the ISS—a total of 1,400 individual items that include everything from pyjamas and toothbrushes to peanut butter, lasagne and tiramisu for its six astronauts.

Apart from several months' worth of food, the craft carries 4.8 tonnes of fuel needed to dock with the ISS and give it a boost into higher orbit with its onboard engines.

This is necessary because the ISS is in a low Earth orbit and encounters atmospheric resistance which causes it to fall towards our planet at a rate of about 100m (300 feet) per day.

ATVs can also push the ISS out of the way of oncoming space debris.

ESA is contracted to provide five ATVs as its contribution to the ISS, a US-led international collaboration.

ESA's ATV-4 Mission Manager Alberto Novelli (right) sitting with Astrium's ATV Programme Manager Gilles Debas (left) in the Jupiter control room at Kourou on 29 May 2013 during the dress rehearsal for ATV-4 launch.

The three previous missions have performed flawlessly, muting criticism of the billion-euro ($1.3-billion) development cost.

The Albert Einstein will carry 800 kg (1,760 pounds) of propellant to be pumped into the ISS itself, as well as more than 500 kilos (1,100 pounds) of water and 100 kilos of oxygen, according to Astrium.

And it will bring a scientific experiment designed to test the behaviour of emulsions—a mixture of liquids that do not blend, like mayonnaise—in weightless conditions.

The ATV's pressurised cabin will provide welcome extra space for the ISS crew—Americans Chris Cassidy and Karen Nyberg, Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin, Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, and Italian Luca Parmitano.

After completing its mission, the ATV-4 will undock from the ISS filled with about six tonnes of garbage and human waste, and burn up over the Pacific.

ESA ATV Albert Einstein attached to Ariane-5 Launcher

ATV Albert Einstein is lowered into position for integration with its Ariane 5 launcher inside the Spaceport’s Final Assembly Building as preparations near completion for next month’s mission. 

Credits: CNES/ESA/Arianespace/CSG Service optique

Arianespace marked one of the final steps in preparations for the next Ariane 5 launch as Europe's latest Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was integrated atop the heavy-lift workhorse at the Spaceport.

This latest ATV - named after German-born physicist Albert Einstein - was lowered by an overhead crane onto its Ariane 5 inside the 90-meter-tall Final Assembly Building in French Guiana.

The payload fairing - which will complete the launcher build up - will be mounted closer to the launch date, allowing for loading of late cargo for the ATV's International Space Station servicing mission. This second Ariane 5 flight of 2013 is scheduled for a June 5 liftoff.

Integration of the ATV Albert Einstein for Ariane Flight VA213 is part of this month's activities on four parallel missions involving Arianespace's complete launcher family at the Spaceport - including the successful orbiting of three passengers by the lightweight Vega vehicle on May 7.

Flight VA213's ATV Albert Einstein will have a liftoff mass of 20,235 kg. - the heaviest payload ever lofted by any Ariane vehicle. In addition to resupply, the ATV will be used for maneuvering the International Space Station.

Built by an EADS Astrium-led industry team, ATV Albert Einstein will be the fourth such servicing vehicle launched by Arianespace for the European Space Agency.

Albert Einstein, Fourth ATV attached to Ariane 5 launcher

Photo of the Automated Transfer Vehicle being prepared to move to the Ariane 5 final assembly building last week. 

Credit: ESA /CNES /Arianespace /Photo Optique video du CSG /P Baudon

Europe's next Automated Transfer Vehicle, set for launch in June to the International Space Station, was hoisted atop an Ariane 5 launcher in French Guiana on Friday.

The robotic spacecraft's tanks are filled with propellant, water, air and pure oxygen.

Technicians will load the ATV's cargo module with fresh food and other last-minute items over next week before the Ariane 5's 17.7-foot-diameter payload fairing is added to enshroud the resupply freighter.

Christened Albert Einstein, the cargo craft is Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle. When it blasts off June 5, the freighter will be the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe - weighing in at an estimated 44,610 pounds, according to the European Space Agency.

It is also the largest vehicle to visit the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle. The ATV measures 32 feet long and 15 feet wide, and its four solar panels, arranged in a distinctive X-shaped patten, stretch out 73 feet tip-to-tip when extended in space.

Each ATV can haul three times more cargo than Russian Progress resupply spacecraft, and twice as much mass as SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship.

The massive spacecraft does not return cargo. At the end of each mission, it falls back into the atmosphere and burns up, disposing of trash in a safety zone over the Pacific Ocean.

The Albert Einstein spacecraft arrived last year at the European-run spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Timed to the second in order to reach the space station, the launch is set for June 5 at 2136:59 GMT (5:36:59 p.m. EDT; 6:36:59 p.m. Kourou time).

The launch time could change slightly based on further tracking of the space station's orbit, according to Alberto Novelli, ESA's ATV 4 mission manager.

The Ariane 5 ES rocket, missing its payload, rolled to the final assembly building in Kourou in March. 

Credit: ESA /CNES /Arianespace /Photo Optique video du CSG /S Martin

Docking with the space station's Zvezda service module is scheduled for June 15.

Managers decided on May 8 to continue preparations for launch June 5, but engineers are analyzing a potential problem with a navigation aid attached to the space station's docking port.

Officials are concerned a stuck antenna on a Russian Progress resupply craft may have damaged a laser reflector mounted on the aft end of the Zvezda module.

Reflectors are used in concert with the ATV's laser-guided navigation system to feed range, orientation and closing rate information to the ATV's computers, which control the spacecraft's automatic approach to the space station.

An array of 26 reflectors is positioned on the back end of the Zvezda module, beaming laser light back to sensors on the ATV, creating unique light patterns captured and recognized by the spacecraft's cameras.

The ATV carries a backup system using telegoniometers, similar to police radar guns, to emit laser light at a different wavelength up to 10,000 times per second.

Cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko replaced one of the laser reflectors on a spacewalk April 19.

Engineers suspected contamination may have damaged the old reflector.

Novelli said the reflector suspected of damage from the Progress docking is in a different location and has a different use than the unit replaced during the April 19 spacewalk.

Until the Progress leaves the space station, there is no way to inspect the reflector without another spacewalk.

ESA ATV-4: Albert Einstein set to Launch June 2013

ESA's space freighter ATV Albert Einstein will be the heaviest spacecraft ever launched into space by an Ariane rocket when it lifts off to the International Space Station on 5 June.

Albert Einstein is the fourth in the five-vessel Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-series of space cargo freighters and is undergoing final integration and cargo loading at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou.

It will launch on board an Ariane 5 ES launcher, delivering over 2500 kg of dry cargo to the International Space Station. It will also haul fuel, water, and oxygen to space, as well as carrying its own fuel to reboost the Station's orbit.

The total mass of ATV Albert Einstein with all its cargo is 20 235 kg, making this spacecraft the heaviest ever lofted into orbit by an Ariane rocket, beating the previous Ariane launch record by over 500 kg set last year by its predecessor ATV Edoardo Amaldi.

Most diverse cargo ever 
"ATV-4 is carrying the most diverse-ever cargo mix – around 1400 different items – ranging from food, spare parts, crew supplies and clothing to scientific experiments and other vital items," says Alberto Novelli, ATV-4 mission manager.

Alberto Novelli

"Launch is scheduled for 5 June on Ariane flight VA213, which would line us up for docking with the International Space Station on 15 June."

Teams from ESA, Arianespace and Astrium, the vessel's builder, have been working at Kourou on an intense pre-launch campaign that began the moment the two halves of ATV vessel arrived in French Guiana last September.

The spacecraft has been checked out, the two halves joined into one and fuelling is underway. ATV Albert Einstein will be hoisted to the top of its Ariane launcher in May.

Late-load cargo can be added just two weeks before launch, this year, around 620 kg of ‘last-minute’ items are expected to be shipped to the Space Station.

Charlotte Beskow

"Late loading offers flexible options to our partners to include critical items needed on the Space Station closer to the actual launch date" says Charlotte Beskow ESA's acting launch campaign manager in Kourou.

In parallel, the joint ESA/French space agency (CNES) flight control team at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France has been doing intensive training and simulations for the mission's flight phases.

ESA ATV Albert Einstein: Fully fuelled at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana

ATV Albert Einstein is fuelled at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) carry two types of propellant to the International Space Station. 

Aside from its own propellants, the space ferry brings propellants for the Russian Station thrusters. 

They are loaded in four phases - and each component is highly toxic. 

All non-essential personnel are cleared from the room and operators wear sealed 'scape suits' at all times during fuelling. 

Image courtesy ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG.

Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) can deliver up to 7 tonnes of cargo to the International Space Station, including supplies and equipment, water, air, nitrogen, oxygen and fuel.

As the Space Station circles Earth, it slowly loses altitude so ATVs reboost the orbit to keep it aloft.

Part of ATV's cargo includes propellants for the Station's own thrusters to keep the orbital outpost at the right height even when no spacecraft are there to offer a helping hand.

Loading the fuel is a complex and hazardous process that takes place over many days during continuous sessions of up to 30 hours.

Should there be a leak, the operators are protected by 'scape suits' that deliver fresh air and are sealed off from the working environment, much like diving suits.

The operators must remain vigilant at all times, constantly checking progress and signs of leaks. To make matters more complicated, ATV own propellants are different to those used by the International Space Station itself, requiring different equipment each time.

Both fuels need separate oxidisers for combustion outside of Earth's atmosphere. The oxidisers are also loaded separately, meaning that four different liquids are being pumped into Albert Einstein's tanks in total.

ESA Albert Einstein: ATV resupply spacecraft enters final preparations

Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to service the International Space Station is entering its final preparation phase for a planned Ariane 5 launch this spring from French Guiana on Arianespace's Flight VA213.

Named after Albert Einstein, the ATV is being processed in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation building, where it was transferred yesterday from the facility's S5C large preparation hall into its S5B high-bay area.

Riding on an air cushion pallet, the ATV was efficiently moved within the S5 building using internal transfer corridors that are maintained to clean-room conditions.

Following its final preparations, ATV Albert Einstein will be moved to the Spaceport's launcher integration building, where the large spacecraft is to be integrated atop Ariane 5.

Weighing approximately 20 metric tons at launch, the series of Automated Transfer Vehicles are developed in a European program for resupply and servicing of the International Space Station, and they rendezvous with the orbital facility after being deployed by Ariane 5.

Produced by an EADS Astrium-led industry team for the European Space Agency, this latest ATV will carry some 6,270 kg. of fuel, water, air, oxygen and dry cargo to the space station.

Additionally, ATVs are commonly used to adjust the International Space Station's orbital altitude and make maneuvers to avoid collisions with space debris.

Flight VA213 signifies the 213th flight of an Ariane with this workhorse family of launchers since 1979.

Arianespace is responsible for launching all ATVs, and has orbited three of them to date: ATV Edoardo Amaldi in 2012, ATV Johannes Kepler in 2011 and ATV Jules Verne in 2008.

ESA Ariane-5 Launch preparations: Mission ATV - Albert Einstein

Ariane 5’s cryogenic core stage is suspended over the launch table in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building. Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG

The launcher for Arianespace’s fourth flight with Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 (ATV-4), Albert Einstein, is rapidly taking shape at the Spaceport, preparing it for liftoff in the spring from French Guiana with the International Space Station’s latest resupply spacecraft.

During activity this month in the Spaceport’s Launcher Integration Building, the heavy-lift vehicle’s core cryogenic stage was suspended over the mobile launch table, followed by positioning of its two solid propellant boosters.

The launcher’s EPS storable propellant upper stage will then be installed, readying the Ariane 5 for transfer to the Final Assembly Building, where the latest ATV (named after Albert Einstein) is to be mated.

Farewell to ESA's ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi: Greetings to ATV-4 Albert Einstein

ATV Albert Einstein arriving by boat at Europe’s Spaceport, in Kourou, French Guiana on 19 September 2012.

It is scheduled for launch to the International Space Station in April 2013.

Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Video du CSG

ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle Edoardo Amaldi undocked from the Space Station on 28 September and completed the final part of its six-month servicing mission to the Station by reentering the atmosphere on 3 October and burning up as planned over an uninhabited area of the southern Pacific ocean.

ATVs perform all manoeuvres, including docking autonomously, under close surveillance by their control centre in Toulouse, France run jointly by ESA and CNES.

ATV Edoardo Amaldi and the International Space Station firing their thrusters to boost the orbital outpost’s orbit. 

This shot was captured by ESA astronaut André Kuipers during his PromISSe mission.

ATV-3, Edoardo Amaldi docked with the Interntional Space Station on 29 March 2012 during André’s six-month PromISSe mission.

The cargo ship delivered 6596 kg of fuel, air, oxygen, scientific equipment, spare parts and crew supplies.

While docked, the ATV-3 performed nine reboosts to keep the Space Station in orbit, counteracting the effects of atmospheric drag.

Without reboosts by ATV and Russia’s Progress vehicles, the Station would eventually fall back to Earth.

On 22 August, ATV-3’s eighth boost lasted for 40 minutes (nearly half an orbit) and raised the Station to new heights – a record-breaking 405 x 427 km above Earth.

During the six months that ATV-3 spent at the Station, it provided 48 cubic metres of extra space for the astronauts. Before its departure, the crew loaded its pressurised module with waste material.