www
www.esa.int
esa bulletin 134 - may 2008
64
In Brief
News
When the new Ariane ES
launched ATV Jules Verne into
the expected orbit with high
precision on 9 March 2008, it
was not just another perfect
launch of Ariane-5 – it was
something very special and
frontier-breaking, opening up new
perspectives for Europe.
The mission was the most
complicated ever undertaken by
any Ariane launch vehicle: a first
boost of the upper stage over the
Atlantic Ocean to reach an
elliptical orbit, followed by a
ballistic phase flying over the
most populated parts of Europe,
then a second boost over the
Pacific Ocean to circularise the
orbit at 260 km, then separation
of the ATV Jules Verne in this
orbit followed by a full orbit in
order to perform a braking boost
and a destructive reentry over the
Pacific Ocean.
In order to monitor the Ariane-5
ES ATV mission, the most
comprehensive tracking network
ever established for an Ariane
launch had to be deployed. It
employed telemetry reception
from Kourou, a vessel in the
Ariane-5 ES Launch of ATV Jules Verne
Atlantic Ocean, ESA’s new
tracking station in the Acores,
tracking stations in Adelaide and
Dongara in Australia and
Invercargill in New Zealand.
This launch not only marked
Ariane’s first mission to the
International Space Station (ISS),
establishing Europe as a major
partner in the ISS collaboration,
but it also opened up new
aspirations and opportunities for
Ariane-5 in terms of missions
needing reignition, such as for
the deployment of the Galileo
constellation.
e
Lift-
The Ariane-5 ES-ATV launcher poised at Ariane Launch Complex No.3 (ELA-3) at the Guiana Space Centre. On board is Jules Verne, ESA’s first Automated
Transfer Vehicle for the ISS
I
n
B
r
i
e
f
_
1
3
4
6
/
5
/
0
8
1
2
:
4
4
P
M
P
a
g
e
6
4
www.esa.int
nt
esa bulletin 134 - may 2008
65
In Brief
),
r
e
Lift-off of the Ariane-5 ES-ATV launcher from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s Spaceport, in Kourou, on 9 March 2008
ESA’s ATV Jules Verne was used
for the first time to raise the orbit
of the Int