Satnews Daily
September 29th, 2008

Jules Verne Bids All Adieu


ESA' s Jules Verne final photo Shortly after 15:30 CEST (13:30 UT) on Monday, September 29th, the European Space Agency's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle will initiate a controlled destructive re-entry high above an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean. Jules Verne undocked from the International Space Station on September 5th, 2008, ending a highly successful mission to deliver supplies to the orbital outpost. The ATV main engines will use their remaining fuel in two separate deorbit boosts to terminate the 3-week solo flight of Jules Verne. The deorbit boosts will send the 13.5-ton spacecraft on a steep flight path initiating the controlled destructive re-entry high above the Pacific Ocean. The planning of this event in the night time allows for observation from two aircrafts containing a collection of ESA and NASA scientific experiments allowing optical imaging and spectrometric observations. In addition, the ISS crew might be able to observe ATV re-entry with the Russian ultraviolet and spectrometric instrument, called FIALKA. The re-entry will be monitored from ESA's ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France. Throughout the day on Monday, the ATV Blog will carry regular updates from inside the ATV Control Centre.