ATV-CC control teams and control rooms

Three teams work at the ATV Control Centre:

1. The ESA ATV Operations Management Team (OMT), in charge of the overall operations preparation and execution activities, and of decision making for off-nominal situations
2. The Flight Control Team, in charge of the ATV operations
3. The Engineering Support Team, providing flight analysis and expertise for the whole mission.

The teams work in three control rooms:

Main control room

The main control room is dedicated to the ATV mission execution/management performed by the CNES flight control team, headed by the Flight Director. He is in charge of the real time decisions in coordination with the ESA ATV operations management team, which is also working in the same room. This operations management team is in direct contact with Houston and Moscow control centres (MCC-M and MCC-H). There is no CapCom (Capsule Communicator) in the ATV-CC but in case of emergency, the Flight Director can contact the crew in orbit.

Flight Dynamics Control room

The Flight Dynamics Control room is dedicated to flight dynamics officers who are in charge, using real time data, of computing ATV orbital trajectory and monitoring relative position and attitude with relation to the ISS during the approach and rendezvous manoeuvres. This second team is staffed by CNES-Industrial specialists. They will support the Flight Director if needed, in case of a trajectory problem.

(What is name of third room??)

In the third room, there is an Engineering Support Team in which experts from ESA and EADS-ST - the ATV prime contractor - are ready to help and support the flight controllers in case of a problem happening in the ATV systems. This third team intervenes in the case that something is not working as expected. Since they know all the hardware and systems, they are able to take quick corrective measures in case of a failure.

The official language during all the ATV operations is English, including the communications with Moscow and Houston.