SLS Mobile Launcher & Launch Tower
Project Details
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
Client / Owner
NASA
Focus Areas & Services
Modifications to support future missions
NASA Kennedy Space Center entrusted RS&H to vet the feasibility of and design modifications to the Space Launch System (SLS) Mobile Launcher. The 355-foot-tall mobile launcher is designed to support the assembly, testing, check out, and servicing of NASA’s SLS rockets, as well as transfer the rockets to the pad and provide the platform from which they will launch. The targeted study evaluated the structural feasibility of modifying the existing SLS Mobile Launcher to receive a taller launch vehicle.
RS&H provided architectural and engineering services to convert the Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) mobile launcher for use with the SLS launch vehicle to:
- Modify the mobile launcher tower electrical rooms for electrical ground support equipment installation;
- Add support structure for Deck “0” penetrations to the mobile launcher base for installation of the tail service mast umbilicals, TVC hydraulics servicing subsystem bathtubs, and booster aft skirt electrical umbilicals;
- Reinforce the mobile launcher tower for mechanical and fluids GSE installation;
- Modify Park Site 3 personnel and equipment access platforms to support multiple launcher configurations.
Modifications were designed to minimize mobile launcher weight on the Crawler Transporter and load on the Vehicle Assembly Building and pad foundations. The mobile launcher tower mounting structure was designed for launch accessories, including:
- Crew Access Arm
- Orion Service Module Umbilical
- Interim Cryogenic Propulsive Stage Umbilical
- Core Stage Inter-Tank Umbilical
- Core Stage Forward Skirt Umbilical
- Vehicle Stabilizer
Related Projects
Our prior experience designing the Apollo-era and Space Shuttle mobile launch infrastructure informed the framework for stakeholder engagement to ensure accommodation of life safety, human factors, and coastal, launch, wind, and hazardous environments for the successful design of modifications to all structures and facilities.
RS&H provided support to the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program through our design for upgrades to NASA’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) High Bay 3.
As a valued partner with NASA since the 1960s, RS&H started the project with a contract for HVAC repairs, which blossomed into laboratory repairs, laboratory design, and a master plan that would consolidate the ARES division from six buildings down to two.
