Before the ATV, they used engines on one of the Russian modules (Zvezda,, IIRC), Progress supply ships and the shuttles to reboost the ISS.

To keep the thrust vector aligned with the CG, I think the ATV engines are steerable and they also use its steering thrusters (and probably the stations’ gyros) to damp out any residual rotation caused by misalignment. Right now, there are two sets of solar arrays on the port end of the truss and only one on the starboard end. Compensating for that somewhat is the Columbus lab and the airlock on the starboard side. But next month they’ll be adding the Kibo lab on the port side, which means if it’s more or less balanced now, it won’t be in June, at least until they add the last set of solar wings to the starboard side, currently scheduled for December. I’m sure this was all considered in excruciating detail when they were planning the assembly sequence.

JB – I know that at one time NASA planned to have an early shuttle flight dock with Skylab and give a reboost, but the shuttle was delayed a couple of years and the Sun was more active than expected (which causes the upper atmosphere to expand, increasing drag on objects in low orbit), and Skylab came down before the shuttle was ready.

BTW, Jack – the Ley/Von Braun donut station was planned to orbit at 1000 miles (or Km, but it was the 50’s, I’m pretty sure they used miles in the US), which would have put it high enough that reboost wouldn’t be a serious issue, but also right in the middle of the inner Van Allen Belt. BTW, I have that book that appears in the titles for Napoleon Dynamite… An endless source of amusement for my younger siblings.)

And Joe, yes, there’s only one issue preventing that, $$$$.
(But it would have to be a low-acceleration booster… The ISS isn’t
that strong! Speaking of which, wouldn’t this be a perfect application for an ion engine? Scotty, give me full impulse!)

I have a couple of questions about this maneuver, though, that I’m sure someone here can answer.

1) How did they do the re-boost on the ISS previously?

2) How do they guarantee that the centerline of the thrust from the JV module passes through the CG of the ISS? With such an ungainly structure, how do they even know where the CG is? Are all the crew and their equipment stowed in specific locations? What about the trash stuffed into the other service vehicles? How accurately does all that have to be placed? I would think there are limits to how much the guidance controller on the JV would be able to compensate and keep the station from pitching when you turn on the thrusters.

It would seem that if they’d gone with the Ley/von Braun “doughnut” station, the drag would be a lot less than with those flat panels out there, maximizing the drag

- Jack

The “Jules Verne” is the first of a batch of 4 vehicles, if I remember correctly. That first one was pretty much a test launch and flight which is why it wasn’t carrying as much cargo as it could have. There may be further orders coming later.