‘Go’ for Jules Verne

The Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has been cleared to dock with the International Space Station, approximately three weeks after launch on an Ariane 5 booster from French Guiana.

The Ariane 5 ES-ATV launcher at the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s Spaceport, 2 days before launch. Image: ESA – S. Corvaja.

This decision follows an intense period of manoeuvre rehearsals and systems testing. Full demonstration of the Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre, or CAM, was perhaps the most critical, proving that the spaceship is able to autonomous and reliably move away from the ISS in case something goes wrong.

Jules Verne positions itself with respect to the station using differential GPS navigation. When close to the ISS, at a distance of 249 m, its computers also rely on optical guidance (videometer and telegoniometer data) for approach and docking manoeuvres.

The Jules Verne ATV as seen from the ISS during a rendezvouz test (March 29). Image: NASA.

The ATV was developed under ESA contract by an EADS Space Transportation led consortium and is intended to supply the ISS with equipment and spare parts (for the experiments and the station itself) and food, air and water (for the crew) on a regular basis. It will carry around 8.3 tonnes of wet (propulsion and refuelling propellant, water and oxygen) and dry cargo when launched.

Docking on the Russian docking port is scheduled for tomorrow, April 3.

More on ESA’s ATV website.

Safety cards

For your safety check out these huge safety cards archives:

Online safety card collection by Stefan Roesch
Angelo’s safety card collection page

The Skies are Open…

Today is the first day under the new Open Skies agreement between Europe and the U.S., starting what is considered by many a ‘new era’ in air travel. A Continental Boeing 777 was the first to land at Heathrow under the new arrangement, putting and end to roughly three decades of restrictive rules which allowed only four airlines (British Airways, Virgin Atlantinc, United Airlines and American Airlines) to operate between that airport and the U.S..

This aggreement means that, during an initial phase:

1) U.S.-based carriers will be able to fly to any location in the E.U. and to connect European city pairs (therefore exercising the Fifth Freedom right; more about the Freedoms of the Air);
2) E.U.-based carriers will be able to fly from any European city to any location in the U.S. (e.g.: Air France-KLM is starting flights from the U.K. to Los Angeles; British Airways will connect New York to Brussels and Paris).

At a later phase, and depending on the success of further negotations, European companies should be able not only to fly inside the U.S. but also to own and control U.S.-based airlines.

What about the advantages of such a deal?

For passengers: more options. This doesn’t necessarily mean lower fares in the near or medium term, mainly due to the high oil and airport slot prices. Airlines do pay considerable amounts of money in order to secure airport slots, especially at the most important hubs. For instance, Continental payed $200 million for four slots (two different routes) at Heathrow, being now able to connect it to both New York and Houston.

For airlines: the fact that they are no longer denied access to important destinations such as London and other world’s leading economic centres.

Open Skies is a British Airways subsidiary which will fly between Europe and the U.S.. Image: British Airways.

A380 delivery to Singapore Airlines: a different perspective

A 360º panoramic view of Singapore Airlines’ first A380 delivery cerimony can be found on Gilles Vidal’s website. Check it out here.

Delivery of Singapore’s first A380 at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse, France. Image: Airbus.