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Author
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Topic: Fates of space shuttle mobile launch platforms
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-20-2013 07:51 AM
   
Florida Today reports NASA is seeking uses for its three mobile launch platforms: Commercial rocket launcher? Museum exhibit? Artificial reef?All are potential uses for three historic mobile launch platforms from which NASA's moon rockets and space shuttles leapt toward space, but which now sit idle. If those don't pan out, the two-story, 8.2 million-pound structures could be bound for the scrap heap. ...NASA hopes private companies will claim one or more of them as bases for commercial rocket launches, either borrowing the equipment as needed or buying it at auction. Potential costs were not disclosed. Those proposals will get the greatest consideration, but the agency also is collecting information from companies that could demolish MLPs for recycling and disposal, like the shuttle service towers that were dismantled at pad 39B. A third option invites "alternative and innovative solutions for divestment," uses that might not be space-related but could benefit the public. Examples: a museum exhibit, artificial reef or oil rig structure. Proposals are due by Sept. 6. Any modification or deconstruction plan will need to come before the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for consideration, as all three platforms are on the National Register for Historic Places.(The platform built for Ares I is being modified for the Space Launch System.) |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1463
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 08-20-2013 08:13 AM
Here is the Request for Information. |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 08-20-2013 12:01 PM
Would be a pity if those were done away with and just cut up. Maybe they can put a museum exhibit (like rockets/missiles) on top of the MLP, no?  |
garyd2831
Member Posts: 640
From: Syracuse, New York, USA
Registered: Oct 2009
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posted 08-20-2013 09:20 PM
Yes, put a replica shuttle stack on one and a Saturn V replica on the other  |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 08-21-2013 10:40 PM
Can they even be delivered somewhere intact without the crawler moving them? |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 08-22-2013 08:15 AM
Cut one up into tiny pieces and sell them to us! |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-22-2013 08:38 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Ronpur:
Cut one up into tiny pieces and sell them to us!
My thought exactly! |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1463
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 08-22-2013 10:38 AM
quote:
Originally posted by dabolton:
Can they even be delivered somewhere intact without the crawler moving them?
No, too large. And no place for them to go. |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 08-22-2013 03:01 PM
Cut some into small pieces, put in acrylic, and sell at auction for the ASF . |
cspg
Member Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-22-2013 03:20 PM
Maybe J.L. could go on a covert mission to recover bits and pieces and sell them as acrylics.  |
Rob Joyner
Member Posts: 1308
From: GA, USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 08-22-2013 05:11 PM
MLP drag races! |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 08-22-2013 10:53 PM
I don't want mine in acrylic, thanks. I want to feel the steel! They are so big, I think there would be enough for everybody, if that were to happen. I am surprised that none of Pad 39B was cut up and sold as souvenirs. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-22-2013 11:02 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Ronpur:
I am surprised that none of Pad 39B was cut up and sold as souvenirs.
NASA's contract with the demolition and disposal company that deconstructed Pad 39B included a prohibition on parts being made available to the public, in part due to ITAR concerns (your guess is as good as mine) and in part due to the laws that require any available artifacts to be provided to educational organizations (which would have created an expense for the space agency).Similar prohibitions are in place with most of NASA's other disposal and recycling agreements, regardless of what is being trucked away. As such, I wouldn't get your hopes up for metal souvenirs from the mobile launch platforms (though it would be interesting if an organization responded to the RFI with the specific proposal of disposing of an MLP by distributing pieces, however economically infeasible that would be). |
johntosullivan
Member Posts: 162
From: Cork, Cork, Ireland
Registered: Oct 2005
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posted 08-23-2013 05:17 AM
Would these platforms not be useful for SLS? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-23-2013 06:20 AM
A new platform, built in 2010 for the Ares I rocket, is being readied to support the Space Launch System (SLS). |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 09-08-2013 12:23 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
A new platform, built in 2010 for the Ares I rocket, is being readied to support the Space Launch System (SLS).
Wasn't that particular pad made from elements of one of the MLPs that NASA transferred over to the Constellation program? I know the tower was all new, but I seem to recall some MLP elements were used in the base. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 1463
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 09-08-2013 08:57 AM
That MLP is all new. You're using "pad" and "MLP" interchangeably but they aren't. |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 09-09-2013 01:25 AM
Well, if my "pad" you mean the fixed area at 39A and B that the MLP sits on after being dropped off there by a crawler transport, you are correct in that it is different from how I used "pad" in my previous post. I guess I just wanted to save a few letters and not type out "platform".My use of the term not all that different from the terms "shuttle" and "orbiter" being used interchangeably by some even though technically an "orbiter" is but one part of the whole "shuttle" system (which includes the ET and SRBs). |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 09-09-2013 07:32 AM
Photos documenting the construction of the new mobile launch platform can be found here. Photos documenting its first rollout to the pad are here. And here is our discussion thread about the SLS mobile launcher. |
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