The Space Quote - Moebius' metaphor

" Space is a metaphor for awareness : there's a progression from the formation of ego, from being constrained within oneself, to a broader dimension that embraces others. It's a mental conquest of space, with concentric circles that expand to encompass the idea of belonging to a nation, a continent, a planet and ultimately the cosmos. "

MOEBIUS ; Pen name of Jean Giraud - Cartoonist and visionary, creator of Blueberry, who worked on comic books, international movies, videogames...

ATV Jules Verne demonstrates key capabilities

29 March 2008 - ESA's Jules Verne ATV (the first european cargo spaceship) today demonstrated its ability to navigate safely from a point 39 km behind the ISS to a stand-off point just 3.5 km away using relative GPS navigation. The vessel then executed an Escape manoeuvre commanded from the ATV Control Centre in which the craft flew off to a safe distance.

Today’s demonstration also confirmed Jules Verne is able to establish a continuous two-way data link with the ISS. Using the high-rate S-band communication link, which was switched on at a distance of 40 km from the ISS, Jules Verne for the first time conducted relative GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) measurements with the Station. Relative GPS is a navigation technique executed by computers between the ATV's GPS receiver and the ISS GPS receiver that enables ATV to navigate relative to the Station with very high accuracy.

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For both the flight control team in Toulouse, France and the ISS flight crew, this 64 kilobits/sec transmission rate also made it possible to test all the crucial data and communication connections between the two spacecraft, including some monitoring capability on both sides to send and receive communications.

When Jules Verne reached the closest holding position, at 3.5 km from the ISS, the bus-sized spaceship turned on its external tracking lights and activated the Russian-built Kurs rendezvous radar with equipment on both spacecraft. The robust and historical Kurs system, a concept which has been used for decades, provides relative distance and velocity with independent data for the crew monitoring during Jules Verne's final approach to the Station.

During the demonstration the astronauts on board ISS reported they were able to see Jules Verne with the naked eye. The spacecraft could also be seen via screens inside the ATV Control Centre.

Data collected throughout the first demonstration day will now be analysed by the ESA JADOR (Jules Verne ATV Demonstration Objectives Report) team. A report will be submitted to the ISS Mission Management Team. After an assessment and authorisation on 30 March, ATV can proceed to Demonstration Day 2 on Monday (including an approach to within 11 m of the ISS). Docking with the ISS is scheduled on Thursday (3rd of April 2008), soon after the Demo Day 2 Report.

Source : ESA

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Columbus lab joins the ISS

Europe now has a permanent basis for research in space!

16 Feb. 2008 : The European Columbus laboratory, launched with the US STS-122 mission, has been attached to the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Monday.

Rest of the week, both crews were busy with tasks to activate Columbus. Now all of the on-orbit laboratory core systems are activated and two european experiments are installed on the outside of the module, exposing facilities to the harsh environment of space and observing the sun. Four others scientific experiments will be engaged during next four weeks by the french astronaut Léopold Eyharts.

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