Procedures

The ATV procedures described in detail the individual steps executed at ATV-CC.

There were two sets of procedures used by the ATV-CC controllers during an ATV flight:

• The Flight Control Procedure related to ATV were used to send commands to ATV and monitor proper execution.

• The Ground Control Procedures did not deal directly with ATV. These procedures managed the different segments and communications logistics to make the ground stations work as one system.

  The ground team used the Ground Control Procedures to ensure that their computers, consoles, links to the radio stations, to satellites, to the Artemis satellite control centre and to the other Mission Control Centres all worked as a system.

Multi-elements procedures

For the joint activities related to an ATV in orbit, specific high level procedures, called Multi Elements Procedures, were developed, to allocate the tasks to be performed by the centres involved. Every control centre - ATV-CC, CC-M or MCC-H - had its own clearly-defined role.

Each centre was responsible for developing its own procedures: ATV-CC developed the Flight Control Procedures necessary to perform the tasks allocated to it as part of the Multi Elements Procedures.

For example, the crucial refuelling and the reboost steps performed by ATV during the attached phase with the International Space Station were controlled by the Russian segment and the Russian ground controllers in Moscow, Russia. However, the approach of ATV towards the Space Station after separation from its Ariane 5 launcher until the final rendezvous was under control of ATV-CC.

Operations Interface Procedures

The Operations Interface Procedures were standard procedures used to exchange information between control centres involved in an ATV mission (ATV-CC, MCC-M, MCC-H).

They were developed jointly by all partners and addressed:

• Establishment of a communication session between ATV and ATV-CC using the US relay satellite TDRSS
• Exchange of information between the different control centres to prepare and conduct an ATV mission (timing, information on Space Station and ATV status, scheduling of operations, etc...)
• Voice communication between the control centres during the ATV mission