SLS - space launch system (3-я попытка)

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 16 мин. назад

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Boeing, NASA managing SLS Core Stage hardware traffic ahead of first vehicle stacking -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/08/boeing-sls-core-hardware-traffic-first-vehicle-stacking/ ...

... A 4,000 word feature article by Philip Sloss, who's easily the most prolific writer about SLS and Orion news this year!

Спойлер

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 55 мин. назад

Hill: expecting a "green run" test of the SLS core stage (and its four engines) at Stennis about a year from now.

[tnt22]

Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 1 ч. назад

The mobile launcher rollout at KSC will start on Thursday and reach the pad on Friday.

[tnt22]

Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 58 мин. назад

EM-1 vs EM-2

[tnt22]

Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 29 мин. назад

Hill: EM-2 launch planned for mid-2022; another SLS Block 1 would be used for Europa Clipper in 2023 if that spacecraft is ready.

[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/27/sls-mobile-launch-platform-to-go-on-the-move-this-week/

SLS mobile launch platform to go on the move this week
August 27, 2018 | Stephen Clark


The Space Launch System's mobile launch platform is pictured with a crawler-transporter during a lift procedure earlier this year. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The mobile platform intended to carry NASA's Space Launch System will trek to the mega-rocket's launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as Thursday, before heading inside the spaceport's huge Vehicle Assembly Building for the first time next month.

Workers at the Florida launch base have installed more than a half-dozen retractable arms, umbilical connections and support masts on the mobile launcher over the past 18 months, following a lengthy process to redesign the tower's base to accommodate the heavy-lifting Space Launch System.

Originally built for NASA's Ares 1 rocket, a single-booster launcher which never flew on an orbital mission before its cancellation in 2010, the mobile launch platform stands nearly 400 feet tall and weighs approximately 10.5 million pounds. After the Ares 1 rocket was canceled with NASA's Constellation moon program in 2010, NASA decided to modify the structure for the more powerful Space Launch System, which replaced the Ares rocket family as the launch vehicle for the space agency's ambitions for the human exploration of deep space.

The SLS will tower more than 30 stories tall, and will become the most powerful launcher in the world once it debuts. Its primary use will be to launch NASA's Orion crew capsule, a four-person craft that will take astronauts to the vicinity of the moon, where NASA intends to construct a mini-space station in a high-altitude lunar orbit.

One of NASA's heavy-duty crawler-transporters, a holdover fr om the Apollo moon program, will lift the mobile launch platform and transfer it fr om a park site just north of the space center's Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39B, the seaside facility wh ere SLS missions will take off, beginning with the mega-rocket's oft-delayed inaugural test flight in mid-2020 on an uncrewed launch.

Unlike the space shuttle's decommissioned launch platforms, the SLS launch table includes a fixed tower complete with an elevator and connections to route propellants, purges, power and other commodities between the launch vehicle and ground supplies.

Спойлер

The Crew Access Arm for the Orion capsule was added to the SLS mobile launch platform earlier this year, then extended and retracted for functional testing. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The diesel-powered transporter will move the mobile launcher along the rock-covered crawlerway originally built in the 1960s for NASA's Saturn 5 moon rocket, then used for 30 years during the space shuttle program.

NASA's crawler-transporter team has practiced for the move in recent weeks by transferring a shuttle-era platform up and down the crawlerway.

Bill Hill, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, said Monday that the SLS platform's journey is expected to begin around midday Thursday, likely followed by an overnight stop somewh ere along the crawlerway before the trip to pad 39B concludes Friday.

The mobile launcher's rollout to pad 39B will mark the structure's second visit to the launch complex, following a brief trip in late 2011. But that visit occurred with the platform still in its Ares 1 configuration, and this week's trip will be the first time the platform has trekked to pad 39B with its full complement of umbilicals, plumbing, and other equipment necessary for the SLS.

The platform is scheduled to roll back toward the Vehicle Assembly Building around Sept. 7, followed by an employee and media event at the spaceport, before the mobile launcher rolls into High Bay 3 of the cavernous assembly building around Sept. 8, according to Hill.

That will be the first time the platform will enter the VAB.

"We decided to go to the pad first," Hill said Monday in a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's human exploration nd operations committee. "We're going to do fit checks, and then if we find anything we need to fix while we're in the VAB, we'll have time to fix those."

Work at the mobile launcher's park site near the VAB over the last year-and-a-half has centered on lifting and attaching swing arms and umbilical connectors up and down the tower. The attachments included the addition of the crew access arm, a vehicle stabilizer, fueling and purge lines for the SLS and Orion spacecraft, and two large Tail Service Masts at the base of the platform to route cryogenic propellants into the SLS core stage.

See NASA's fact sheet on the mobile launcher's umbilical arms.


The Space Launch System's mobile launch platform sits outside the Vehicle Assembly Building earlier this month, with its full complement of swing arms. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

Once the mobile launch platform is inside the VAB, workers will commence an exhaustive multi-month verification and validation campaign to ensure the tower is ready to support stacking and liftoffs of the Space Launch System. The testing will include swinging the umbilical arms as they will move in the final minutes and seconds of an SLS countdown, according to a NASA spokesperson.

One swing arm that cannot be fully moved inside the VAB high bay is the crew access arm, which astronauts will use to board the Orion capsule flying atop the Space Launch System. Workers at the mobile launcher's park site north of the VAB completed outdoor testing of the crew access arm earlier this month after its installation on the tower's 274-foot-level in February.

Other test objectives inside the VAB include testing of the mobile launcher's ground special power, launch release and thermal control subsystems, a NASA spokesperson said in response to questions from Spaceflight Now.

"In addition, final (mobile launcher) construction work will be completed which will include structural work," the spokesperson said.

Since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, NASA has outfitted High Bay 3 — one of four VAB rocket assembly bays — with new work platforms designed for the Space Launch System.

The mobile launcher's test campaign inside the VAB should be completed by the third quarter of 2019, Hill said.

The platform will then head back to pad 39B for more extensive testing there, before returning to the VAB for the start of stacking of the first Space Launch System.

Cranes will first stack the launcher's twin five-segment solid rocket boosters — manufactured by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems — followed by the lowering of the Space Launch System's huge Boeing-built 27.6-foot-diameter (8.4-meter) hydrogen-fueled core stage between the solid-fueled motors. The core stage will be powered by four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 main engines, uprated powerplants left over from the shuttle program.

Then ground crews will carefully lower the SLS second stage, derived from the upper stage flown on United Launch Alliance's Delta 4 rocket, over the core stage. Finally, the Orion crew capsule will be added to the rocket, including the spacecraft's pointy-shaped launch abort motor.

NASA calls that specific version of the rocket the "Block 1" configuration of the Space Launch System.


Artist's concept of the Space Launch System in its "Block 1" configuration. Credit: NASA

The first SLS test flight, known as Exploration Mission-1, will send an Orion spacecraft — without a crew — toward a unique, unvisited perch in a distant retrograde orbit about 40,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the moon.

NASA plans to build a second SLS launch platform for an upgraded version of the rocket known as "Block 1B." The Block 1B rocket will use a more powerful upper stage propelled by four Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engines, not a single RL10 engine as used on the upper stage of the Block 1 version.

The space agency originally planned to raise the height of the existing mobile launcher for the SLS Block 1B's bigger upper stage, which was to fly on the second SLS mission — Exploration Mission-2. The modification would have required nearly three years to finish, effectively grounding the SLS.

But $350 million in funding approved by Congress earlier this year will give NASA the money it needs to construct a second mobile launcher specifically for the SLS Block 1B configuration. That will free up the current launch platform for EM-2, which will launch with astronauts on the EM-2 mission around 2022, according to NASA officials.

The EM-2 mission profile will take astronauts on a trajectory around the far side of the moon and back to Earth on the first human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.

But the current SLS launch platform will still need some work between the EM-1 and EM-2 flights, such as the addition of a crew escape system for astronauts to quickly evacuate the launch pad in the event of a countdown emergency. The escape system will be similar to the slidewire baskets used during the space shuttle program, Hill said.

The crew access arm on the SLS launch platform will also require additional pneumatic and breathing air equipment before crewed missions.

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

fs-2018-02-250-ksc-ml_umbilical_fact_sheet.pdf - 278.6 KB, 2 стр, 2018-02-28 15:09:25 UTC

[tnt22]

Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 55 мин. назад

NASA's Steven Clarke shows this chart at the NASA Advisory Council HEO/science joint meeting of exploration milestones.

[tnt22]

Ask Our Crawler Driver How They'll Move a Launch Tower
Доступ по ссылке

NASA

Трансляция началась 55 минут назад

Did you know that it takes eight hours for our crawler transporter to make a four-mile trek to the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center? Starting at 11 a.m. EDT, join our crawler expert John Giles and crawler driver Sam Dove to learn about their latest challenge: an upcoming move of the 400-foot-tall mobile launcher tower that weighs nearly 11 million pounds.

(20:30)

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 2 мин. назад

KSCers say Crawler Transporter -2 (CT-2) is now driving under the SLS Mobile Launcher -1 (ML-1) - remember, they are going to build a second one - ready to pick it up for their road trip to 39B.

Screenshot from yesterday, to give you an idea of the size of this thing:

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 1 ч. назад

Checking in on the Crawler Transporter and ML. Water truck looks ready to lead them out. DYK: CT-1 and CT-2 are nicknamed "Hans" and "Franz".



26 мин. назад

ROLLING!!



7 мин. назад

Leaving the park site. And the second ML will be even taller!



4 мин. назад

Second water truck has arrived. They'll play tag team to keep the crawlerway wet.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 2 мин. назад

ARTICLE: SLS ML Rollout to 39B to prelude one year of VAB work ahead of EM-1:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/08/sls-ml-rollout-39b-one-year-vab-work-em-1/ ...

- Article will be updated during the milestones and with new photos. Kyle's awesome work is the first lead photo:

Kyle Henry‏ @kyle_LTS 29 авг.

The VAB and ML reflecting in the water

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 15 мин. назад

Some feathery folk have turned up to get a birds eye view from the VAB roof:

[tnt22]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/mobile-launcher-moves-toward-exploration-mission-1

Aug. 30, 2018

Mobile Launcher Moves Toward Exploration Mission-1


A swing test of the Orion crew access arm, topmost umbilical, is in progress on the mobile launcher at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Aug. 21, 2018. The crew access arm is located at about the 274-foot level on the mobile launcher tower. It will rotate from its retracted position and interface with the Orion crew hatch location to provide entry to the Orion crew module. Exploration Ground Systems extended all of the launch umbilicals on the ML tower to test their functionality before the mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, is moved to Launch Pad 39B and the Vehicle Assembly Building. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

By Linda Herridge
​NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center

When you buy a new car, you take it out for a test drive first. Likewise, as NASA prepares for launch of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, the mobile launcher that will be used is going for a test drive to Launch Pad 39B and the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This 9-mile-roundrip test drive on top the crawler-transporter 2 isn't a joy ride. Exploration Ground Systems' Cliff Lanham, lead project manager for the mobile launcher, said moving it will accomplish several goals.

Спойлер

"The mobile launcher is being moved to begin the next big program phase for verification and validation of all systems when it is connected to the pad and VAB systems," Lanham said.

The mobile launcher will be used to assemble, process and launch the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. The nearly 380-foot-tall structure is equipped with the crew access arm and several umbilicals that will provide power, environmental control, pneumatics, communication and electrical connections to the rocket and spacecraft during processing and launch. Several other umbilicals will provide fuel and stability to the rocket on the surface of the mobile launcher's deck.

To prepare the 11-million-pound mobile launcher for its move, the access platforms were secured, the umbilical arms on the tower were placed in their retracted positions, and access scaffolding and platforms from the ground were removed.

During move operations, the crawler team, including driver Bob Myers, a mechanical systems engineer with ERC on the Test and Operations Support Contract, positioned the crawler beneath the mobile launcher and picked it up for its journey to the pad and VAB.

Traveling at a top speed of .7-mile-per-hour, the mobile launcher will make its inaugural trek along the crawlerway to Launch Pad 39B for a quick fit check on the surface of the pad. NASA Test Director Jeffrey Brink, lead for testing at Pad 39B, will check out key systems over several days to include ensuring the water suppression systems align and the environmental control system that provides air and gaseous nitrogen purges to the SLS through the umbilicals hooks up properly with the mobile launcher's ducts that distribute them. During the fit check, the cryogenic system lines from the mobile launcher to the pad will be checked and remote commanding from the Young-Crippen Firing Room at the Launch Control Center will be tested.

"The VAB and Pad 39B are a proving ground for our ground systems, and we fully intend to prove they're ready for flight hardware," Brink said.

Performing these checks now will give the team time to fix any issues found during the fit check and before the team gets into testing at Pad 39B next spring in preparation for the first launch of SLS and Orion on Exploration Mission-1.

Once pad checks are complete, the mobile launcher will depart 39B atop the crawler and travel back along the crawlerway to the VAB. The crew access arm will be rotated just outside of the VAB. Then the mobile launcher will slowly be moved into High Bay 3 to begin testing with the 10 levels of new work platforms, power systems, air conditioning systems, communication systems, including cameras, and pneumatics systems. Major tests include swinging out the umbilicals on the tower. Then test conductors will operate the umbilical arms remotely from inside the firing room.

"This testing is necessary to ensure the systems will function as designed and to validate the systems operate as expected under the test conditions," Lanham said.

Performing these tests now will give NASA the confidence that the ground systems can safely and effectively support integration, processing and launch of SLS and Orion on missions to the Moon and future missions to Mars.

[свернуть]

Last Updated: Aug. 30, 2018
Editor: Linda Herridge

[tnt22]

NASA's Exploration Ground Systems‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAGroundSys 7 мин. назад

The mobile launcher is on the move!! We are working on footage of the move, but at one mile an hour the ML is in no hurry.

[tnt22]

NASA's Exploration Ground Systems‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAGroundSys 7 мин. назад

The mobile launcher is on the move!!

We are working on footage of the move, but at one mile an hour the ML is in no hurry.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 3 мин. назад

We're getting intermittent drone footage!! Likely collating for some NASA B-Roll. There's the Water Truck.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 3 ч. назад

Making very good progress. They will stop from time to time to give the Crawler a good lubing/greasing.



18 мин. назад

Well I hope no one is working late at the 39A HIF, because they are in for a shock when heading home! There's a 390 foot tall ML in this view.

[tnt22]

Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 14 мин. назад

Dawn breaking at KSC. Crawler Transporter -2 (CT-2) will be carrying the SLS ML on its second leg down the Crawlerway for hard down on 39B by the end of the day.



5 мин. назад

Let there by light! SpaceX's 39A HIF in the distance. CT-2 will make a left turn to 39B. Oh, that's embarrassing. CT-2's already been pulled over by traffic cops for speeding.

[tnt22]

Spaceflight Now‏ @SpaceflightNow 6 мин. назад

Good morning fr om the Kennedy Space Center wh ere the SLS launch pad tower dominates the horizon, decked out in red, white and blue. Its journey to pad 39B will continue later today.