ATV-3 Undocking Called Off

ATV-3 photographed during its approach to the International Space Station in preparation for docking (Credits: NASA).

The European Space Agency’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) was scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on September 25 at 22:35 GMT on its way to atmospheric reentry over the Pacific Ocean on September 27. At 16:55, station crew closed the cargo ship’s hatch. At 22:15, the avionics and flight control systems were powered up. Then, the glitch manifested.

Commander Sunita Williams reported that commands sent from a laptop aboard ISS that was supposed to control a command panel inside ATV-3 were not getting through. The cause of the signal interference is unknown. The laptop is located in the Zvezda module with which ATV docks. As a result of the malfunction, the ATV was resecured to the station pending a resolution to the disruption and rescheduling of the undocking.  

ATV-3, named Edoardo Amaldi after the Italian physicist, is ESA’s payment in kind contribution to the upkeep of the ISS program. The vessel carried food, water, scientific equipment, propellants, and maintenance equipment to the station and was used to reboost the station’s orbit which is continually degraded by drag from the upper atmosphere. Prior to hatch closure, the ship was loaded with waste material from the station, destined to be burnt up during ATV’s destructive reentry.

The ATV’s trouble comes close on the heels of a somewhat irregular departure for the JAXA resupply vessel H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Kounotori, the third HTV mission from Japan. Kounotori departed the station on September 12, after an abort maneuver caused the robotic craft to dart away from ISS just after undocking. The cause of the abort initiation has not be disclosed.

The next resupply vessel to travel to ISS is scheduled to be the first Commercial Ressuply mission (CRS-1) SpaceX’s Dragon on October 7, which will also be the station’s only reusable supply vessel. The fourth ATV, named Albert Einstein, is currently scheduled for April 2013.

Below, a look inside ATV-3 as ISS Expedition 30 crew unloaded its cargo following its March 29 arrival at the station:

 

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