Bart Leahy

February 16th, 2017

SpaceX has been working to ready Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets since 2014. Photo Credit: Sean Costello / SpaceFlight Insider

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. For the first time since 2011, a rocket will be sending supplies and a collection of science experimentsfor the International Space Station (ISS) from Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A). However, the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) 10 mission, scheduled for Feb. 18, 2017, is not being flown by a NASA launch vehicle, but SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceXs launch from LC-39A also will be a major milestone for Elon Musks rocket company. In addition to being the first flight from the former Apollo and Space Shuttle site, it will mark the companys first flight from Florida since the Sept. 1, 2016, loss of a Falcon 9 during a static fire test. The accident resulted in the loss of both the rocket and Amos-6 satellite on top and severely damaged Space Launch Complex 40, SpaceXs other East Coast launch site, which is just south of LC-39A.

The last time SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo spacecraft to the ISS was on July 18, 2016.

On Feb. 10, 2017, the California-based companyrolledits Falcon 9 and into a vertical position at LC-39A on its new transporter-erector. Two days later, the rocket underwent a static engine test.

In addition to supplies for the station, CRS-10 will deliver severalscience experiments, including the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III instrument, the Microgravity Growth of Crystalline Monoclonal Antibodies for Pharmaceutical Applications experiment, and the Raven spacecraft navigation system, among others.

The Raven technology module. Photo Credit: Chris Gunn / NASA Goddard

SAGE III is a NASA Langley Research Center instrument that will be mounted on the Earth-facing side of ISS to study ozone in the atmosphere. The experiment is a follow-on to several previous experiments.

The original SAGE was launched to follow the Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement, or SAM, flown on the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. SAGE II was a part of the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, or ERBS, which the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger deployed in 1984. SAGE III, designed for the ISS, is a near-duplicate of one launched aboard aRussian Meteor-3M satellite in 2001.

CRS-10 also will bring materials to continue supporting a CASIS experiment monitoring the growth of monoclonal antibodies in zero gravity. Monoclonal antibodies are molecules that attach to other specific molecules in the body to aid in fighting multiple human diseases, including cancer.

The CASIS experiment crystallizes a monoclonal antibody developed by Merck Research Labs. It will use microgravity to grow extremely high-quality crystals, which allow scientists to study the proteins structure, improve drug delivery and manufacturing, anddevelop better methods for storing these molecules.

The Raven investigation studies a real-time spacecraft navigation system that provides the sensors and guidance to see a target and steer toward it safely.

Raven also will enable future exploration missions near Earth and beyond, including satellite servicing and repair, asteroid exploration and redirect missions, and the Orion program.

A previous, single-sensor version of the Raven technology flew as the Relative Navigation Sensor (RNS) Payload on STS-125, the fifth Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission.

The Raven visible camera is a repurposed flight unit from the STS-125 demonstration. It also reuses the flash lidar flown as part of the Sensor Test for RelNav Risk Mitigation (STORRM) demonstration on STS-134.

Over its two-year mission on the ISS, Raven will estimate the relative navigation state of the vehicles visiting the station each year in real time. As vehicles approach and depart from ISS, the instrument will monitor them in action and send thedata to Earth.

NASA operators will then evaluate how Ravens technologies work as a system and make system adjustments to increase its tracking performance. The device is expected to monitor approximately 50 individual rendezvous or departure trajectories over the course of its mission.

An artists illustration of Raven monitoring an approaching spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA Goddard

Other science missions Dragon will carry include the following:

An archive photo of a previous Dragon being attached to a Falcon 9 inside a horizontal integration hangar. Photo Credit: NASA

The Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) will test a charge injection device (CID) in space, attached to the exterior of ISS.A CID-based sensor can be used in astronomy experiments to directly image exoplanets and the distant stars they orbit. If proven successful, this sensor will offer a novel approach to differentiating objects in high-and-low contrast image collection scalable to large aperture space telescopes, airborne and undersea search and rescue, and NASA exploration.

CRS-10is scheduled to lift off at 10:01 a.m. EST (15:01 GMT) Feb. 18. The weather outlook for the mission is iffy with a 40 percent chance of a violation of launch constraints. The primary concern a thick cloud layer.

Should a 24-hour delay occur, the weather improves slightly to a 30 percent chance of a weather violation. The primary concern for Feb. 19 is cumulus clouds and precipitation.

Video courtesy of NASA Goddard

Tagged: CRS-10 Dragon Falcon 9 International Space Station Launch Complex 39A Lead Stories NASA SpaceX

Bart Leahy is a freelance technical writer living in Orlando, Florida. Leahy's diverse career has included work for The Walt Disney Company, NASA, the Department of Defense, Nissan, a number of commercial space companies, small businesses, nonprofits, as well as the Science Cheerleaders.

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SpaceX Dragon delivering the science on CRS-10 - SpaceFlight Insider