NASA Worries Latest Progress Docking Damaged ATV Reflector

摘要

A reflector that enables Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to perform its unpiloted approach to the international space station (ISS) may have been damaged last month when a hobbled Russian cargo ship docked with the station, a NASA spokesman said May 6. The Progress cargo ship that reached ISS April 26 had to dock without the benefit of a communications antenna used by the craft's Ukrainian-built Kurs automated docking system. The antenna failed to extend after launch, possibly leaving its undeployed bulk in the path of the laser radar reflector ATV uses as a navigation aid during its own automated rendezvous. Ground controllers in Moscow elected to proceed with the Progress docking despite the stuck antenna, uploading a software patch to help with proximity operations and bringing the freighter toward the station's Zvezda service module at reduced speed.