Orbital Traffic Jam Looms for Space Station
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This artist's concept, featuring an older space station configuration, depicts ESA's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle arriving at the ISS. CREDIT: ESA |
This story was updated at 11:13 p.m. EST.
WASHINGTON
— The maiden flight of an unmanned European cargo ship is just one of several of
tightly-packed arrivals and departures coming up for the International Space
Station (ISS).
The
European Space Agency?s (ESA) first Automated
Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is set to launch toward the space station as early
as Feb. 22 between a pair of U.S. shuttle missions hauling new modules to the orbital
laboratory.
?We?ve been
developing this vehicle for more than 12 years now and we?re within touching
distance of getting it on orbit,? said Alan Thirkettle, the ESA?s station
program manager, in a Thursday briefing. ?We?re very excited.?
But before the
new spacecraft lifts off, astronauts aboard the space station must cast off a
spent Russian cargo ship on Feb. 4, then welcome fresh one on Feb. 7 — the same
day NASA?s
shuttle Atlantis is due to haul the ESA?s Columbus lab toward the ISS.
The ATV, christened
Jules Verne, has a narrow window to dock at the ISS between Atlantis? 11-day mission
and the planned March flight of the shuttle Endeavour to deliver the first
segment of Japan?s Kibo laboratory.
?Things
really start to stack up,? said NASA?s station program manager Mike Suffredini,
adding that another Russian spacecraft and a shuttle hauling the centerpiece of
Kibo are also due at the outpost in April. ?In fact, we?ve been talking to the
crews about being some sort of air traffic controllers; we?re just going to
have so many vehicles on or around ISS.?
Suffredini
said that if the ESA?s Jules Verne ATV performs flawlessly during its two-week
shakedown, NASA may delay Endeavour?s planned March 11 launch to allow the
cargo ship to dock at the ISS on March 15.
?The key to
our success is going to be flexibility amongst all the spacecraft that are
coming to the ISS,? he added.
Jules Verne?s shakedown cruise
The Jules
Verne ATV is the first of five ESA cargo ships built to launch
fresh supplies to the ISS as payment for European experiments, hardware and
astronaut slots on future crews.
?Five flights
in total will cover us in our obligations out until 2015,? Thirkettle said.
The 1.3
billion-euro ($1.9-billion) ATV is a 20-ton spacecraft capable of hauling a
maximum of 7.5 tons of cargo — three times that of Russian supply ships — to the
ISS inside its cylindrical shell.
?We?re
going to be the largest carrier of cargo to the International Space Station,? said
John Ellwood, ATV project manager.
The first
ATV mission will launch atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe?s spaceport in
Kourou, French Guiana. It is expected to run about 15 days, which includes the
10-day flight to the station and a series of demonstration days to test its
autonomous docking and collision avoidance systems.
The spacecraft
uses an optical rendezvous system that relies on lasers to guide its approach
and docking. Astronauts aboard the station won?t be able to take remote control,
as they can with Russian spacecraft, but could press a red button that would back Jules Verne away should it stray off-course.
If all goes
well, the cargo ship could dock as early as March 15, or else take up a holding
pattern and rendezvous at the ISS after the Endeavour shuttle flight, ESA
officials said.
?We are, I
think, very ready to embark on the Jules Verne operations,? said Bob Chesson, ESA
human spaceflight and operations chief. ?We?re just waiting now to get the
go-ahead.?
- VIDEO: Columbus: Europe's New Science Laboratory
- VIDEO: Space Station's First Female Commander
- SPACE.com Video Interplayer: NASA's STS-122: Columbus Sets Sail for ISS









