NASA will train the two imaging systems at the spacecraft to help monitor its performance and capture key events during ascent, including release of the Dragon capsule and solar panel deployments. "NASA did not possess a shipboard gyro-stabilized tracker with the large aperture/long focal length optics coupled to state-of-the-art detectors." "This ship-based imaging capability is unique," said NASA Langley Principal Investigator Tom Horvath. NASA has contracted with Celestial Computing Incorporated (CCI) of Boston, Mass., to outfit the Freedom Star with a gyro-stabilized kineto tracking mount and specialized hardware to protect against the harsh conditions the system will face in the north Atlantic. The Freedom Star, a former space shuttle solid rocket booster recovery ship, is now a floating high tech camera and radar platform that will be stationed in the North Atlantic to track and capture images of the first commercial spacecraft carrying cargo to the International Space Station. They are home ported at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station adjacent to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Ī NASA Langley team will capture long range images of the SpaceX launch with the help of a sophisticated camera and telescope system that's on a gyro-stablized tracking mount. Both ships will be off the coast of the northeastern United States. The Freedom Star and its sister ship, Liberty Star, which were built to recover space shuttle solid rocket boosters, will also track the spacecraft during the mission using NASA diagnostic radar systems. The team will have sophisticated optical systems stationed on the ground near Daytona Beach and for the first time ever on board a ship, the Freedom Star.
Launch of this historic first commercial spacecraft carrying cargo to ISS is scheduled no earlier than May 7. The SCIFLI (Scientifically Calibrated In Flight Imagery) team, based at NASA's Langley Research Center In Hampton, Va., is preparing to capture high definition video and thermal imagery of the SpaceX launch as the Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon capsule climb through the atmosphere on their way to the International Space Station.
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