LONG RANGE VALIDATION OF ATV-ISS RENDEZ-VOUS AND DOCKING USING EPOSX

摘要

On April 3 at 16:40, Jules Verne, the first of a series at least 5 Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV) docked successfully and safely at the International Space Station (ISS). This paper describes the very large test facility that was needed to perform the validation of the Rendez Vous and Docking (RVD) of this safety critical process. It describes the facility in detail as well as the Hardware and Software mechanisms needed to perform these tests at such a large scale while still meeting the high accuracy and safety requirements for the docking procedures. Furthermore it describes the environmental conditions needed to be such that the real flight hardware could be used without risk. The paper also tries to answer the question if designing such a large test facility so late into the ATV development process was a wise decision and if all that effort paid off in the end.