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Author
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Topic: [Discuss] SLS Mobile Launcher (ML) development
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26182
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-17-2011 02:30 PM
   
Editor's note: In an effort to keep the topics ...focused on status updates, reader's feedback and opinions are directed to this thread. Please use this topic to discuss NASA's development of a new mobile launcher for its Space Launch System. |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2433
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 11-17-2011 02:38 PM
Mobile Launcher (ML) moves to launch pad Pad B doesn't quite look so sad now does it? |
328KF
Member Posts: 758
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 11-17-2011 07:14 PM
I'd like see an empty launcher on the pad because the rocket just left, rather than because the rocket hasn't been built yet. |
Shuttleman
Member Posts: 114
From: Huntsville, Al. USA
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 11-18-2011 09:07 AM
Check out this PDF starting on page 5. I was there in 1978 for the testing and I felt the vibration moving the whole stack... it was really neat. |
divemaster
Member Posts: 1335
From: ridgefield, ct
Registered: May 2002
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posted 11-18-2011 09:33 AM
quote:
Originally posted by KSCartist:
Pad B doesn't quite look so sad now does it?
Too bad Guenter wasn't there to kick the tires. I really miss him. |
apolloprojeckt
Member Posts: 687
From: arnhem netherlands
Registered: Feb 2009
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posted 11-18-2011 10:37 AM
Did they build also a new crawler or is this still the old version with some modifications? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26182
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-18-2011 10:39 AM
It was one of the two same crawler-transporters previously used during Apollo and space shuttle, without modification. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26182
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-24-2011 08:52 AM
Just to follow-up, the Apollo and space shuttle-era crawlers will be undergoing a number of upgrades to support the Space Launch System. For example, their driver cabs and engineering room will be swapping out their analog controls for touch screens. They'll also be receiving new generators, rollers and hydraulic lifts to meet the requirements of the new launch vehicle. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 1311
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 11-24-2011 12:54 PM
It would be great if they could set up a display with the removed parts as a sit in cab. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 666
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 11-28-2011 08:04 AM
Is there any particular reason why they painted the SLS launch tower grey instead of red like the Apollo launch towers? |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1013
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-28-2011 08:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by GACspaceguy:
It would be great if they could set up a display with the removed parts as a sit in cab.
That would be a great thing to see if they could put it in at one of the KSC displays. I assume the ML is automatic. It would be funny to find out that they drive it using stick shift.
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26182
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-28-2011 08:50 AM
You can see the driver's cab controls as part of our article and photo gallery for the 40th anniversary of the crawler's use. "We had a joystick up there [in the driver's cabin] during my days," explained Sylvan "Skip" Montagna, a former Bendix employee who drove the crawlers during Apollo. "Today I understand they have little knobs up there. We had the experience of having the controls that were built for it. As [crawler engineer] Bill [Clemens] said, most of them didn't work at the time, and you've got to appreciate this is a machine [that is] one of a kind so all the controls they built for it, they really didn't work right. As time goes on, we kind of refined them and told the engineers what we'd like to have and they'd refine them," said Montagna. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 666
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 02-18-2013 10:46 AM
This Florida Today article says that the other crawler-transporter (CT-1) is being mothballed, in addition to Pad 39A and one of the VAB High Bays. |
Jim Behling
Member Posts: 398
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 02-18-2013 11:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
Is there any particular reason why they painted the SLS launch tower grey instead of red like the Apollo launch towers?
Why should they be in the first place? Why does it have to be like the past? Are any of the other launch towers at the Cape still red? No, because that red lead anti corrosion paint is seldom used anymore due to toxicity.You got to let go of the past and move on. Apollo processes and technology are old and arcane and not applicable. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 1311
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 02-18-2013 12:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by LM-12:
This Florida Today article says that the other crawler-transporter (CT-1) is being mothballed, in addition to Pad 39A and one of the VAB High Bays.
Careful how you report what this article states as it also adds "...available for commercial use."So while NASA itself may not intend to use them, others may. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 26182
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-18-2013 07:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by GACspaceguy:
...others may.
Just to underscore this, NASA released these graphics on Feb. 15:  An artist's concept shows a possible layout of a commercial spacecraft and rocket using facilities inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the center undergoes a transformation into a multi-user spaceport. At left is the Space Launch System, or SLS, currently under development by NASA. At right is a generic rocket and spacecraft design indicative of the likely arrangement of such a vehicle.  An artist's concept shows a possible layout of a commercial spacecraft and rocket using facilities at Launch Pad 39A as NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida undergoes a transformation into a multi-user spaceport.
Of course, this is tangential to the development of the SLS mobile launcher... |
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