ESA GNC Conference Papers Repository

The extended European Proximity Operations Simulator (EPOSx) is a test facility for real-size, kinematically accurate simulation of the final approach of a vehicle visiting the International Space Station (ISS) [1]. Derived from a previously existing smaller facility, and extended using an existing towing tank facility of the French armament procurement agency (DGA) in Val-de-Reuil, France, the facility has been used successfully to validate primarily the sensors and the GNC for the final approach part of ATV free flight, starting at around 300m, up to first contact. Since the inaugural mission with Jules Verne in 2008, the facility has been used to perform acceptance tests on rendezvous sensor models flown on ATV vehicles. This paper describe the acceptance test campaigns run for the sensors of the last 3 ATV missions. Following a brief description of EPOSx, the paper presents the design of open-loop trajectories, the operational procedures of the test runs and the post-processing of the test data. The advantage of using such a facility together with model-based validation, as well as lessons learned during the operations are also discussed.