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In this artist’s conception, astronauts transfer supplies from the European Space Agency Automated Transfer Vehicle (right) to the International Space Station. Boeing engineer Brian Oakley worked closely with Russian scientists to develop a new docking video system for the ATV—which is scheduled to make its first flight to the ISS in February. pace Ag ency ima g e E uropean S pace

The chief engineer of the Russian space “Because of the constraints on dock- Russian teammates laud company Energia was so impressed with ing opportunities using the Russian ground U.S. efforts that he presented individual sites, we were limited to 23 dockings a year. Boeing-developed ISS achievement awards celebrating the 50th With the new system, we have more than video docking system anniversary of Sputnik to Boeing ISS en- 100 opportunities to dock with the station gineer Brian Oakley and NASA Johnson now,” Kelly said. Space Center computer resources system An added benefit to video is that dock- By Ed Memi manager Sean Kelly, who jointly oversaw ing specialists on the ground can sometimes hen the European Space Agency’s the project. Energia is working with the see things that the crew might not see. newest cargo spacecraft docks European Space Agency on the new cargo “All the way from onboard the ISS Wwith the International Space spacecraft called the Automated Transfer through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Station in February, it will use a new digi- Vehicle. The ATV, unlike the Russian System and the ground stations to liter- tal video docking system designed in part spacecraft, must have the video system to ally halfway around the world, we have a by Boeing. dock to the ISS. 1.5-second latency time requirement,” The system streams a high-quality digi- “If the Russians can’t get line of sight to Kelly said. “We also had to interface with tized video feed from the Russian segment the ISS from a ground site, they don’t have NASA, the European Space Agency and analog docking cameras and sends the sig- communications. So what happens, you Russian operations groups as well as the in- nal down through the station’s Boeing- have huge blocks of time where you can’t ternational partner organizations on those developed Joint Station Local Area talk to the vehicle that you are trying to technical teams. The human interaction Network, rather than using an analog line- dock to and you have no video whatsoev- challenges were just as tough as the techni- of-sight route to Russian ground stations. er,” said Rob Shields, Boeing’s Joint Station cal challenges.” The digital signal is downloaded via the Local Area Network manager. Oakley said being able to test many of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System Oakley’s role was to support end-to-end systems in the ISS Electronics System Test to mission control centers in Houston, integration and coordinate testing plans and Laboratory at Johnson Space Center was Germany and Moscow. procedures for all tests. “The ability to pull critical before the first Russian test flights. The new system improves safety and also together all these different technical groups ESTL replicates the avionics used on sta- is being used to support Russian spacecraft and have the data be handed off from place tion. “When we first got video in Moscow, dockings. The video includes telemetry and to place and then have it all work—it has it was a really big deal,” he said n has an overlay that provides additional vi- been a challenge, and it has been very re- [email protected] sual cues to ensure a smooth docking. warding,” he said.

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