SpaceX became the first

commercial company to

successfully recover a spacecraft

from Earth orbit. The Dragon

spacecraft orbited the Earth twice

before landing in the Pacific.

The System Acra KAM-500 DAUs connected to

a variety of sensors allowed the

acquisition of data for post flight

playback and analysis as well as

the telemetering of data to the

ground for real-time analysis.

The Results • First 100% recovery of a

commercial spacecraft from

orbit

• Reliable test equipment for an

accelerated space flight test

program

• Data used to develop the

docking mechanism on future

Dragon spacecraft

SpaceX Falcon 9 & Dragon

Acra KAM-500 Records

Video & High Speed Sensor

Data on SpaceX Mission

COMMERCIAL OFF-THE-SHELF

MODULAR DESIGN

The System

Made up of entirely commercial off-the-shelf products, the system comprised

• 3 Acra KAM-500 Data Acquisition Units to

acquire, record and telemeter data

• Range of plug-in standard modules used

to capture audio, video, strain and

temperature

• A High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) to

parse and pass high speed serial date to

the recorder

• Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)

module to read sensors

Acra KAM-500

Lowers Risk Proven on every platform type in

all environmental conditions

COTS hardware with short delivery

times

Reduces Cost of Ownership Reduced inventory of spares due

to common product line

Lower installation, setup and

maintenance requirements

Modular design greatly extends

system lifetime

FTI by Design Designed to minimize the data

transfer time from sensor to screen

Guaranteed predictable data

Simultaneous sampling occurs

across the complete system

WORKS ONCE

WORKS ALWAYS

Results I

First 100% successful recovery of a commercial

spacecraft from Earth orbit

• Valuable flight data recovered:

• Structural response to acoustic loads

from Falcon 9 rocket engines

• Structural integrity and orbital

manoeuvring of the Dragon capsule

• High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) module

was developed and delivered in less than a

year

The Acra system is

robust, we are always

confident it will pass

environmental testing

Jason Vance

Avionics Engineer - RF/Telemetry

Space Exploration Technologies

“ “

DESIGNED TO OPERATE IN THE

HARSHEST ENVIRONMENTS

Results II

Reliable test equipment in place in time for an

accelerated space flight test program

• The first time Acra hardware was launched in

low Earth orbit, the data acquisition hardware

was subject to rigorous environmental tests for

payload safety prior to launch

• Acra delivered a system that met SpaceX’s

tight budgets and demanding flight schedules

• The reliability of the equipment meant that not

only was data successfully recovered but the

DAUs were still fully operational following

splashdown

“ We have never had a problem with any Acra hardware in flight

“

HIGH QUALITY DATA

EVERY TIME

Results III

Data used to develop the docking mechanism on

future Dragon spacecraft

DragonEye

The docking system for the Dragon spacecraft,

DragonEye II was tested on-board the Space Shuttle

Discovery.

Acra KAM-500 recorded LIDAR 3D and thermal

imaging video of the docking /undocking procedure

with the International Space Station.

The data that was acquired and recorded on both of

the DragonEye missions is being used to develop the

permanent docking structure of future Dragon designs.

For more information visit

www.cwc-ae.com

Curtiss-Wright Controls Avionics & Electronics

cwc-ae@curtisswright.com

665 North Baldwin Park Boulevard City of Industry, CA 91746, USA

Phone: 626-851-3100

Landscape House, Landscape Road Dublin 14, Ireland Phone: +353-1295-1264