Updates ESA's ATV-3 "Edoardo Amaldi"

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4 hours away from the launch.

Spaceflight Now: Mission Status Center:

2150 GMT (5:50 p.m. EDT)Officials say the weather outlook for tonight's launch is favorable so far. There are scattered clouds and rain showers around the French Guiana spaceport, but the activity should diminish later this evening.

The countdown continues on schedule with no major issues.

ESA:

 

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An hour until the launch.


CBS News Space: European cargo ship prepped for launch to space station

Spaceflight Now:

• Mission Status Center:

  0255 GMT Fri. (10:55 p.m. EDT Thurs.)ESA's ATV mission manager Massimo Cislaghi reports the status board is all green in the Jupiter control room at the Guiana Space Center, indicating all systems and weather conditions are acceptable for liftoff. The Ariane 5 rocket has an instantaneous opportunity for launch at 0434:05 GMT (12:34:05 a.m. EDT).

  
  
• Ariane launch ground track
  
  

 

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T-15 minutes. All "green".

Universe Today: Watch the ATV Launch Live

 

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And we've had a liftoff.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

I saw Arianespace commercials courtesy of NASA TV..... :rofl:

 

[NovaSilisko]

I was amused terribly when I saw this:

Might be normal but certainly looks like a windows error message to me

---------- Post added at 11:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 PM ----------

And first stage sep!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Core stage separation. And the upper stage has ignited.

 

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I was amused terribly when I saw this:

Might be normal but certainly looks like a windows error message to me

That was an error. That's a standard look of the "Please tell Microsoft about this problem" error reporting dialog in Windows XP. The visualization disappeared after that.

EDIT TO ADD: Like this one, but in French:

And they should have clicked on the "Send Error Report". :lol:

 

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Successful separation of ATV-3.




SPACE.com:

• Europe Launches Giant Cargo Ship Toward Space Station
• Amazing Night Launch Photos: Europe's ATV-3 Cargo Ship Blasts Off

Florida Today:

• Ariane 5 Blasts Off On Station Supply Run
• Ariane 5 on its way to ISS with supplies
• http://www.floridatoday.com/proart/20120323/space/303230030?pagerestricted=1

Aviation Week: ESA's Third ATV Lifts Off With Supplies for the International Space Station

^ LOL @ 8:23 ^

Activity at ESA's 5.5m Santa Maria station, Azores, just prior to tracking the overhead pass of Ariane 5 VA205. Lift-off came at 05:34CET, and SMA station picked up telemetry 12 minutes later.

Here's calendar event for docking to ISS. You can request a reminder for that event here.

 

[N_Molson]

Nice one again !! :thumbup:

 

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Aviation Week: Enroute to ISS

DLR: Successful launch of ATV-3 'Edoardo Amaldi'

ESA: Europe’s smart supply ship on its way to Space Station

Click on image to enlarge​

On Friday 23 March 2012, Ariane 5 VA205 with the third Automated Transfer Vehicle Edoardo Amaldi lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012​

 

[SiberianTiger]

Congratulations to Europe! I wish the Edoardo would have a smooth flight and great contribution to the ISS operations! :thumbup:

 

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Arianespace: Arianespace's Ariane 5 delivers another ATV for International Space Station servicing

NASA: European Cargo Ship Launches to Space Station

collectSPACE: Dispatches to orbit: Writings by visionaries von Braun and Amaldi fly to space

Discovery News: Europe's Huge Robotic Space Station Cargo Ship Launches

Aviation Week: ATV-3A Lifts Off For March 28 ISS Docking

Spaceflight Now:

• Ariane 5 soars on overnight launch to space station
• PHOTOS: Up-close views of Ariane blastoff
• PHOTOS: Liftoff snapshots from Toucan viewing site

Official launch replay by ESA:

And ATV-3 launch highlights:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yc-8bmFfpM"]ATV-3 Launch Highlights - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 25/03/2012.

ATV Photography:
In a last-minute addition to their timeline, between 7:55 AM - 8:15 AM GMT, CDR Dan Burbank, FE-5 Andre Kuipers & FE-6 Don Pettit shot long-lens photography of the ATV-3 (Automated Transfer Vehicle-3) cargo ship as it passed underneath the ISS at a closest range of 104 km. Purpose: Ground analysis of the photos to verify full deployment of the ATV proximity operations antenna boom. [There have been indications that the boom may not be fully deployed (no "boom locked" signal received after deployment after launch). For the photography, Dan, Andre & Don carefully removed window scratch panes 5 & 6 in the Cupola and later reinstalled them, using PPE (Personal Protective Equipment (dust masks, nitrile gloves, photo/TV lens cloth) to protect the window scratch panes and primary pressure pane glass.]

There's more on this issue in the ESA ATV blog:

One minor issue was seen during the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) — it was noted that the ATV’s Proximity Link Antenna Boom (the Antenna Deployable Boom or ADB) had correctly deployed, but the final sensor confirmation that the boom was locked into place was not received.

Yesterday, since ATV is orbiting just 100km below the ISS, it was decided to ask the crew to get a picture for a visual confirmation that the antenna was in place. The ATV attitude was accordingly manoeuvred a bit, so that the astronauts would get a good view of the antenna boom the next time ATV passed by below.

Before the astronauts could do so however, at 09:03 CEST this morning, the telemetry status from ATV switched over to ‘ADB Locked’. End of problem.

But what caused the sensor to switch to green? ESA’s Daniel Firre, the Mission Director on console this morning when it switched, says a number of causes are possible. It could be vibrations from the manoeuvre, exposure of a boom element to solar heat, or even the unfreezing of a small piece that might have been blocking the mechanism or the sensor.

Given that the ISS report says the photography was performed, but the ATV blog says it wasn't, I am unsure as to the exact status of the photography. But, interestingly, this same issue was also seen on ATV-2 last year, for which the STS-134 crew had to photograph the ADB during their ISS flyaround - full story in the ATV blog:

“The reason we asked for the images is that there was some delay in the locking of the boom after deployment and we wanted to see if there was anything to be learnt from the imagery that might shed some light on the reason for this delay,” says ESA’s Nico Dettmann, Head of the ATV Production Programme.

 

[NovaSilisko]

I would say trust the man who took the photos to know whether photos were taken

 

[Kyle]

I was amused terribly when I saw this:

Might be normal but certainly looks like a windows error message to me

---------- Post added at 11:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:42 PM ----------

And first stage sep!

Terrible timing to have a CTD is during an actual rocket launch...

 

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ESA: ATV music video: Back at the ISS:

26 March 2012

A new music video by Beatles tribute band Love & Mersey celebrates the return of ATV to the International Space Station and sends a rocking musical greeting to ESA Astronaut André Kuipers, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and the Station’s entire crew.

After a spectacular night-time liftoff from Kourou on 23 March, ESA's third Automated Transfer vehicle, Edoardo Amaldi, is set for docking with the International Space Station on Wednesday.

In space, André Kuipers and Oleg Kononenko will keep close watch on the docking, ensuring everything goes as planned.

On Earth, another team will be following the mission closely: Dutch group Love & Mersey is one of Europe’s top Beatles tribute bands and they've recorded a lively musical video, Back at the ISS.

{...}

Discovery News: Orbiting Cargo Ship Photographed From the Ground:

SPACE.com: How to Spot a Huge Space Cargo Ship in Night Sky This Week


Arianespace: Photo feature: A close-up view of Arianespace's Ariane 5 liftoff with the Automated Transfer Vehicle

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 26/03/2012.

ATV-3 Update:
Ground analysis of the long-lens photography conducted by the crew yesterday has confirmed that the Proximity Antenna boom is properly deployed and in the locked position. ESA reports that ATV-3 is in good shape for rendezvous and docking.

 

[RGClark]

Great video of the launch as seen on Nasa TV.

Bob Clark

 

[IronRain]

ATV-3: Docking profile