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NASA's Giant Crawler-Transporter Is Getting an Upgrade
An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from Transportation Nation:
"Retired space shuttles are being readied for museums, but there's one piece of equipment at the Kennedy Space Center that dates back to before the moon landing and it's not going anywhere. NASA's giant crawler transporter is the only machine with enough muscle to move Apollo rockets and space shuttles out to the launch pad, and after nearly 50 years on the job the agency's decided there's still no better way to transport heavy loads. It's about as wide as a six lane highway, higher than a two story building, with huge caterpillar treads at each of its four corners. ... Crawler two is being upgraded from its current lifting capacity of 12 million pounds — the combined weight of the shuttle and mobile launcher — to 18 million pounds, for NASA’s new heavy lift rocket."
... but why don't they build the rocket on the take-off location and remove the building instead? It seems like a smaller effort, no?
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
If NASA thinks they are going to have a heavy-lift rocket, or even a manned space program, ever again, they obviously have not been reading the newspapers. For the next decade at least, they aren't going to do anything beyond a few GPS and communications satellites. And Elon Musk is going to grab most of that business. Joyrides are being handled by two other companies and the Russians are providing the lifts to the ISS, until that too, is deorbited for lack of funds.
Short of a "Pearl Harbor" style incident that forces us back into space in a big way (say, the Chinese land on the moon, or a chunk of falling rock wipes out LA), the government is as committed to NASA as the average Slashdotter is committed to becoming the Pope.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Can't help but wonder since it moves so slow, but still, how far would it freeroll if you didn't have brakes?
An inside source told me that they'll be adding a cool air intake and a bigger exhaust in order to attain the extra power they're after.
I have always wondered why they don't convert the system to rail. Seems like a much more efficient way to transport a vehicle out to the pad.
I hope they find a use for it someday. Because the SLS (Senate Launch System) will never fly.
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Try steroids, that's what all the Athletes use to life more weight.
sudo make me a sandwich
I thought by now we could 3D print rockets in place, or maybe even quantum teleport the rocket to the launch pad?
I no longer want to drive the Zamboni.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawler_transporter
This is one seriously wicked piece of engineering.
I sincerely hope we get to use it again.
Diesel-electric, and rides on a road made of a specific gravel that can support the weight.
Silence is a state of mime.
Sweet, it's nice knowing even the boffins at NASA understand that sometimes in life you just need more grunt and a bigger hammer...
I no longer want to steal the Zamboni.
FTFY
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
55 comments so far and nobody's jumped on the "NASA hasn't used metric units for the crawler. Will roll upside down?" bandwagon yet? /. is getting boring.
No comments about how many fully-laden African swallows it would take to move a Saturn V either. Jeez,
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Where do the droids go?
your not putting them on avg normal rails GEEE go and weight distribution plays a factor as you could make 20 rails across that are large enough and then just shove the rocket over and you could then do that a bit quicker. Me thinks this is why NASA is basicaly moth balled all that focus on military and UN-intellectual property has drained the actual creativity to other nations and china will land on the moon and prolly india before the usa ever goes by itself with a man back into space.
wait until the EPA, OSHA, and all the other alphabet soup agencies stick their fingers in. New engines? Emission controls! Diesels? Better be low sulfer capable models! Lets make sure those fuel tanks meet all current specs! Got particulate filters and urea injection there? No? Sorry, not going anywhere till you do! Hey, are you sure that no birds have built a nest along that gravel road? Environmental Impact statement (and corresponding studies)! Safety equipment for those working on and around the crawler? Is it up to recent regulatory specs? You know, these (dropping a 600+ page volume). Subject to change of course...
And on and on...
Makes my Ford F150 Pickup seem inadequate.
It's about as wide as a six lane highway, higher than a two story building,
Are six lane highways and buildings the new units of length now? I was still getting used to football fields and city blocks.
Have gnu, will travel.
The giant crawler saves money as they can crew it with a bunch of jawas who work for e-waste.
One thing the article could have mentioned is that the US has abandoned its capability to build big machines like this. Marion Power Shovel and its peers, who also built the machines to dig the Panama Canal and other historic feats of engineering, are gone. Empty fields here in Ohio where the plants stood.
Thinking about this in juxtaposition to present-day ideas of 'innovation', such as new versions of stupid games for telephones, makes me feel ill.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
Sure, it'd be higher efficiency. But it's only used 10 times a year or something. You'd never recoup the costs of converting.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I'd love to see some redneck Monster Truck freak try to beat that sucker in a tractor-pull.
Back as a kid, at least one of the news networks would periodically give progress updates on the movement of Apollo Saturn V-B vehicles out to the launch complex...the actual launches, of course, were breath-taking. The kind of stuff that inspires kids to become engineers.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
They have two of them?
OK all I want to know is have they had a drag race with them yet? Come on you KNOW the engineers want to!
Can the Stig take one around the track?
I'd like to see this one sent to Mars, instead of some tiny rovers.
The crawlers actually have nicknames, and they actually seem to be Hanz and Franz.
So, remember, the left one is Hanz, the right one is Franz, and together, they will f*ck, you up!