A great update sent in by ESA’s Head of Operations at ATV-CC, Jean-Michel Bois, reporting on the Joint Operational Readiness Review (JORR) in Toulouse on 25 April (your humble editor regrets the delay in posting!) – Ed.

On Friday, 25 April, we completed with success the first major review before the ATV-5 launch in July. The Joint Operations Readiness Review (JORR) was held in Toulouse at the ATV Control Centre to check on readiness of the ATV-5 ground segment and the ESA/CNES operations teams.

This review is a key milestone to enable the ATV and ISS senior managers to declare ATV-5 ready to go to space.

The JORR is based on a very detailed checklist of all subsystems and data products necessary to conduct ATV operations during its planned six months in orbit. It covers the overall organisation and configuration management, safety, the Toulouse control centre facilities, the international telecom networks, the Moscow & Houston control centres, the data-relay satellite systems (NASA’s TDRSS and ESA’s ARTEMIS), crew training and the operational procedures to be employed inside ATV-CC as well as by the crew and between the three Control Centres. The level of training of the ATV-CC teams is also assessed.

The review was chaired by the ESA’s ATV Mission Manager and the Head of ATV Operations in coordination with representatives from the Moscow and Houston ISS control centres.

No outstanding issues

The review verified the current status of all these items and validated the actions remaining to be implemented before launch; the JORR identified no issues which could preclude the flight.

In conclusion, after starting just a few days after ATV-4 reentry last year, all operational systems are now ready and preparations and training for the ATV-5 flight continue in Toulouse. This very demanding programme includes realistic simulations to train the teams on progressively complex contingency situations.

Similar reviews will be held in the coming weeks for the ATV vehicle itself and for the Ariane 5 launcher, and eventually to confirm full readiness of the combined elements of the ATV-ISS system.