Saturday, August 24, 2013
Have a Rocket to Launch? NASA's Massive Launch Platforms Are Now on Sale - Wired
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Saturn V SA-506, the space vehicle for the first lunar landing mission, is rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building and down the 3.5-mile crawlerway to Launch Complex 39-A. Photo: NASA - Pictured is a schematic of the crawler's design. Image credit: NASA
- The Space Shuttle Atlantis rides a crawler transporter to Launch Complex 39A on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
- Space Shuttle Atlantis began moving from the Vehicle Assembly Building at 5:02 a.m. on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. It took about six hours to reach launch pad 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
- The crawler-transporter that carried space shuttle Discovery on its last rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A moves toward the pad perimeter gate. Image credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
- Shown in front of one of the crawler's eight tread belts are, left to right, Richard L. Drollinger, Director of Engineering, Marion Power Shovel Co.; Theodor A. Poppel and Donald D. Buchanan, both of Kennedy Space Center; S. J. Fruin, Executive Vice President and Philip Koehring, Project Engineer, both of Marion; and Kurt H. Debus, Center Director at Kennedy. In July 1964, the group gathered to observe the first test at Marion, Ohio. Image credit: NASA
- Mobile Launcher Platform-3 returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building after launch of shuttle Atlantis on the STS-135 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
- Morning breaks over Launch Pad 39A following the arrival of shuttle Atlantis and Mobile Launcher Platform-2 prior to the STS-132 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
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Saturn V SA-506, the space vehicle for the first lunar landing mission, is rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building and down the 3.5-mile crawlerway to Launch Complex 39-A. Photo: NASA
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Pictured is a schematic of the crawler's design. Image credit: NASA
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The Space Shuttle Atlantis rides a crawler transporter to Launch Complex 39A on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
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Space Shuttle Atlantis began moving from the Vehicle Assembly Building at 5:02 a.m. on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. It took about six hours to reach launch pad 39A. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
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The crawler-transporter that carried space shuttle Discovery on its last rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A moves toward the pad perimeter gate. Image credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
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Shown in front of one of the crawler's eight tread belts are, left to right, Richard L. Drollinger, Director of Engineering, Marion Power Shovel Co.; Theodor A. Poppel and Donald D. Buchanan, both of Kennedy Space Center; S. J. Fruin, Executive Vice President and Philip Koehring, Project Engineer, both of Marion; and Kurt H. Debus, Center Director at Kennedy. In July 1964, the group gathered to observe the first test at Marion, Ohio. Image credit: NASA
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Mobile Launcher Platform-3 returns to the Vehicle Assembly Building after launch of shuttle Atlantis on the STS-135 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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Morning breaks over Launch Pad 39A following the arrival of shuttle Atlantis and Mobile Launcher Platform-2 prior to the STS-132 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
Space pioneers, super villains, and delusional architects, get your checkbooks ready. NASA is putting its Mobile Launcher Platforms up for sale, and if you've got the cash and a business case, you can snag one of three 4,115-ton space shuttle platforms. But you won't be able to drive it home.
Built in 1967, the trio of MLPs were designed for the Apollo and Saturn programs, and then modified in the '70s to support the Space Shuttle. The platforms stand 25 feet tall and measure 160 by 135 feet, with an unladen weight of 8,230,000 pounds. Add on an unfueled Shuttle, and it tops 11 million pounds.
But there's a problem.
NASA is only selling the platforms, not the 5,500-horsepower transporter that crawls along the tracks at 1 mile per hour. That means that whoever buys the MLPs will need to have it completely disassembled, packaged, and shipped from Florida. And no, the space agency won't help.
"NASA would not move [the MLPs] for them," says Tracy Young, a NASA public affairs officer speaking with WIRED. "People should have a way of dismantling them."
Additionally, each MLP has been stripped of nearly everything you'd need to launch, including the fire suppression systems, emergency warning beacons, monitoring systems, water lines, and the Integrated Network Control Systems (INCS). So basically, you're getting a hunk of metal with a few winches, some hydraulic and ventilation lines, some electronics, and — according to documents acquired by WIRED — a "bathroom with two sinks, two toilets, two urinals and one drain."
However, NASA expects that commercial firms, other governmental agencies, or even an individual would be interested in purchasing the MLPs, and could retrofit them for other applications. It's more likely that Elon Musk's Space X and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin have them at the top of their Wish Lists, but NASA is accepting all Requests for Information proposals.
"We're looking for a synopsis of the traditional and non-traditional uses [of the MLPs]," says Young. And those include proposals from the public. So if you're interested in owning the platform that was built to transport and launch the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo lunar landing program, get your application in now before the September 6 deadline.
Source : http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/08/mobile-launcher-platform/
