New ISS transfer vehicle named for early sf writer

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

'Bout durn time, too! The trouble is that many English-language readers get the idea that Verne only wrote inaccurate science in his novels, but it's because the standard English translations have been butcher jobs. The Europeans have a much better concept of how accurate Verne usually was (although, of course, once it gets into speculation, as to what might happen in the future, all bets were off--still, generally JV can be relied on to do a very credible job extrapolating from the science of his day).

There were editions of The Annotated '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' and The Annotated 'From the Earth to the Moon' back in the 70s, but they never did any more of them, which was a real pity. It was really amazing to read the hack job that the original translator had made out of what was not only excellent fiction, but excellent science as well.

The (okay, so I'm on a crusade to rehabilitate JV's reputation in the UK/US) Curtmudgeon

I didn't see anything in that article about whether the ATV could be used as a lifeboat should something happen on board. For the moment the crew is limited by the Soyuz's carrying capacity. Which reminds me, has any final decision been made on whether to completely nix the CRV program, or go with it after all?


-Adam

Its been a long time since ive read any JV, but wasnt it his 'Earth to the Moon' that went into why a 'bullet' shaped rocket was better than a spherical one they originally proposed? Definately good science [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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Faber '62 ΔTX
Are you a Bright?

As I recall, From the Earth to the Moon had the American voyagers taking off from Florida (Texas was considered but dismissed) and achieving an escape velocity of about 25,000 mph in a ship they dubbed the Columbiad. Also, one of the dogs on board dies, and they eject the body, which follows along with them.

Sounds pretty darn good to me.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I didn't mean to imply that every single science fact in Verne's writing got scrubbed by the translator; only that a lot of the science was, leading to the impression by many (e.g., read some of Brian Aldiss' essays on sci-fi) that Verne was slipshod, at best, when "trying" to put real science in his fiction. A large part of the problem, according to the guy who edited the 'Annotated' versions, was that the original English translations were done at a time when the metric system was still pretty much ignored by English-speakers, even scientists, and so a lot of the mistakes were simple conversion errors, but they did produce some howlers. Also, Verne included a lot of social commentary in his fiction, and the original translator wasn't in step with his ideas and so either clipped them or skewed them to his own way of thinking, and that would occasionally lead to him omitting basic facts that were necessary to later, non-omitted, science discussions.

I'll try to remember to get on-line this weekend from home (I usually post from work, as now) where I've got my 'Annotated JVs' and post some examples of the problems and the corrected translations.

The (just how do you try to remember?) Curtmudgeon

I have heard from other sources that most of the English translations of Verne are wretched.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Let's all learn French and meet back here in a year to discuss Verne's Off On A Comet.

No worries, i have no idea what translated version i read since it was too long ago, but agree there was some good science involved [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

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Faber '62 ΔTX
Are you a Bright?

On the other hand, don't the inhabitants of the unpowered spaceship enter zero gravity when they reach the balance point between the Earth and moon--but experience nearly normal gravity otherwise?

I read it a long time ago.

Yeah, they do. Bit of a goof on acceleration there. But my main impression when I read Verne was that he was pretty much at the cutting edge of science -as it stood in 186x.

Isn't there a scene in Around The Moon where the interplanetary travellers open a window (in the middle of the voyage), and they have no trouble in breathing in the vacuum?
I'm not trying to trash Verne, though. His novels seemed scientifically "good", considering the time when they were written, and considering also that they were some of the earliest science fiction stories ever.
But I think that his most 'prophetic' work is probably 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: informant on 2002-04-15 13:38 ]</font>

He even got the name of the first nuclear submarine right! [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

My bad; for you non-USans, it was Pre-IRS Weekend this past weekend (taxes, doncha know) and I got distracted. I finally found my W2 form 11:15 this morning....

Anyway, I'll try to get to it some night this week; I have no baseball games to go to, so fewer distractions than normal, now that the shirt-off-my-back is in the mail to You Know Whom.

The ("I've got sixpence, jolly, jolly sixpence; I've got sixpence to last me all my life!") Curtmudgeon

I've got twopence to spend, and twopence to lend, and
Twopence to send home to my wife (poor wife)...

Hey, wait, I'm not married! I guess Uncle Sam gets that too. As long as they spend it on NASA! (There, I made this post on-topic!)

Today, about 98 percent of the hardware for Jules Verne, Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) spaceship, considered to be the most complex space vehicle ever developed in Europe, is already assembled and almost ready to fly.
"Obviously we cannot launch unless we have everything 100 percent ready and fully tested", said John Ellwood, ESA's ATV Project Manager. "The extensive three-year test campaign on such a complicated programme -- with its unavoidable problems and delays -- will push us back by almost one year, to 2007."
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18210
Technical challenges push the launch of the ATV to 2007
http://www.esa.int/images/compare_atv_array400.jpg

http://www.esa.int/images/atv_cutaway_low,1.jpg
http://www.esa.int/esaMI/ATV/ESA4ZJ0VMOC_0.html
http://www.esa.int/images/compare_atv400.jpg




another older report
Discussion: European Cargo Ship Begins Testing
Cargo Ship Testing

Parom might give it a run for its money. A Kliper/ATV combo gives the Old World a good MOL.

EADS SPACE RESTRUCTURES: WILL REDUCE WORKFORCE BY 700
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=18911
EADS Space, subsidiary of the European group EADS, announced Friday December 2nd, 2005, that it is restructuring and will phase out 700 jobs over the next three years (starting in 2006). The cuts will take place in their research departments and will affect 500 subcontractors and 200 internal employees. They do not however foresee any layoffs. The reduction was deemed necessary as the launch industry has seen an important decrease in new projects and is also confronted with the end of the developmental phase of three big programs: Ariane 5, the ATV transport vehicle and the M51 ballistic missile. The news came on the heels of another EADS Space announcement. EADS Space has finalized its acquisition of Dutch Space, which specializes in robotics and solar panels. [Agence France Presse 12/2/05, Le Monde 12/3/05]

Verne chose Cape Canaveral, as a matter of fact, and explained that it was the very best place in the US from which to launch such an expedition. I don't think he knew much about the soil conditions there though, because I guarantee you they would have been challenging for that big gun.

latest photos ( 11 January 2006 )
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV/SEM0EPG23IE_1.html
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEM0EPG23IE_index_0.html
2006: a challenging year for Jules Verne

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/esahicle.htm
The European Space Agency also considered using the Ariane-5/ATV to launch the Columbus laboratory.
http://www.lunaroutpost.com/gallery/...ges/atv002.htm
http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.go...irr/ss/4/5.cfm
ATV - about half of the cargo will consist of food, clothing and the like. Propellant for reboosting the ISS, water, oxygen and nitrogen, and ISS fuel will make up the other half.

New ESA CEV Class Spacecraft Based on ATV

http://www.usspacenews.com/index.html
January 16, 2006

ESA is exploring the design for a CEV class spacecraft based on the ATV.
This new crewed spacecraft share
common hardware and software with the ATV (including autonomous
rendezvous and docking). Principle
differences are in thermal control, enhanced ECLSS, escape and
recovery capabilities and crew systems