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.
“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.