These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Sunday, November 15, 2020
NASA Mobile Launcher Platforms (MLP) built on Marion 5760 undercarriage
(see below for satellite)
I remember that a Mobile Launcher Platform was built in the 1960s to support the Apollo program. It travelled on a transporter that was a variant of the 8-crawler base used by Marion stripper shovels. Thanks to Denny's post below, I've learned that NASA is building a second one for the Space Launch System (SLS). They have already modified the old one for the SLS.
Blast From The Past: Space Shuttle Program posted, cropped Crawler-transporter No. 2 makes its way toward Launch Pad 39B (in the background). The crawler is being moved nearby in the event the mission management team decides to roll back Space Shuttle Atlantis due to Hurricane Ernesto. The hurricane has been forecast on a heading north and east from Cuba, taking it along the eastern coast of Florida. NASA's lighted launch window extends to Sept. 13, but mission managers are hoping to launch on mission STS-115 by Sept. 7 to avoid a conflict with a Russian Soyuz rocket also bound for the International Space Station. The crawler is 131 feet long, 113 feet wide and 20 feet high. It weights 5.5 million pounds unloaded. The combined weight of crawler, mobile launcher platform and a space shuttle is 12 million pounds. Unloaded, the crawler moves at 2 mph. Loaded, the snail's pace slows to 1 mph. 2006-08-28
Breed Of Speed posted Because each launch pad was built atop a sloping pyramid, the crawler used a hydraulic suspension system to keep the launch platform level as it traveled along the crawler way. The crawler has two 2,500-gallon diesel fuel tanks filled up before any trip. The fuel powers two 16-cylinder Alco engines and two 16-cylinder Cummins Power engines. The crawler’s mpg is more easily measured in fpg: 32 feet per gallon, which equates to about 165 gallons per mile.
NASA "The 370-foot-tall, 11 million-pound steel structure
was modified by NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS). The flame bucket on the base of the ML
was widened from 22 x 22 to 34 x 64 feet to accommodate the SLS and boosters configuration when
stacked on the structure. "
[The current ML can handle the SLS Block 1 rocket. The new ML is needed to launch the SLS Block 1B rocket.]
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Blast From The Past: Space Shuttle Program posted, cropped At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a water truck continues to spray the dry crawlerway in front of the crawler-transporter as it moves the mobile launcher platform on top away from Kennedy's Launch pad 39B. The platform, turned over from the shuttle program to the Constellation Program last month, will be rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building's High Bay 3 in preparation for the Ares I-X flight test this summer. Ares I-X is the test vehicle for the Ares I, which is part of the Constellation Program to return men to the moon and beyond. Ground Control System hardware was installed in MLP-1 in December 2008. The platform was moved to the launch pad to check out the installed hardware with the Launch Control Center Firing Room 1 equipment, using the actual circuits that will be used when the fully stacked Ares I-X vehicle is rolled out later this year for launch. 2009-04-13
A satellite caught them parked north of the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Bechtel will build a second one for about a half-billion dollars depending on how big the cost overrun is for a cost-plus contract estimated to be $486m. It is supposed to be done 44 months after July 1, 2019. NASA is supposed to have "boots on the moon in 2024." And this time we are supposed to stay on the Moon. So I stand a chance of seeing men on the moon again in my lifetime. In the 1960s, I was in favor of humans in space. Now I think the money should be spent on robotic scientific missions instead. It occurred to me during the Space Shuttle days that you could probably retire all of the astronauts with a really nice annuity for less than the cost of one launch.
Denny Frizzell posted two photos with the comment: "Last modular section of the mobile launch platform at NASA about 10 years ago. It was something like, 240,000 lbs at 260 feet."
[This must have been the modification of ML-1. I think the crane is a Manitowoc 21000.]
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Denny commented on his post
Denny commented on his post
Jim Brown commented on Denny's post
Jim Brown commented on Denny's post
nasaspaceflight [Actually, the almost half-billion dollar cost for a brand new one looks like a bargain since I learned that NASA spent almost a billion dollars modifying the old one to support the SLS! Part of the problem was that work began on the modifications before the SLS design was finalized.] "They are also concerned ML-2’s design-build contract structure utilizes award fees, which if implemented similar to the ML-1 project may limit the Agency’s ability to motivate the ML-2 contractor to improve performance and control costs."
While looking at the satellite images, I noticed that 39A, the launch pad that is closest to the VAB, is the one that SpaceX now uses.
It has to cost more to transport the rockets to 39B than to 39A. Did NASA keep 39B because it is newer and 39A was worn out?
Blast From The Past: Space Shuttle Program posted As the crawler transporter slowly moves the Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP) out of the Vehicle Assembly Building, the driver of the front control cab can be seen. The MLP is carrying two solid rocket boosters for engineering analysis vibration tests on the crawler and MLP. The crawler is moving at various speeds up to 1 mph in an effort to achieve vibration data gathering goals as it leaves the VAB and then returns. The boosters are braced at the top for stability. The primary purpose of these rollout tests is to gather data to develop future maintenance requirements on the transport equipment and the flight hardware. Various parts of the MLP and crawler transporter have been instrumented with vibration data collection equipment. 2003-11-17 Donald Lauter: I guess at 1mph he doesn't need a seat belt.
NASA's Exploration Ground Systems posted four photos with the comment: "Last week [Aug 2023], teams used the crawler transporter 2 to roll mobile launcher 1 from its park site location to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Now that the four-mile journey is complete, teams will prepare the launch pad and mobile launcher 1 for various tests and upgrades in preparation for the crewed Artemis II mission."
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