Incubator escapee wiki

Crawler-transporter

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Infobox automobile The crawler-transporters, formally known as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities,<ref name="nris" /> are a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport launch vehicles from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. They were originally used to transport the Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs. They were then used to transport Space Shuttles from 1981 to 2011. The crawler-transporters carry vehicles on the mobile launcher platforms (MLPs) used by NASA, and after each launch return to the pad to take the platform back to the VAB.<ref name="hostares" />

The two crawler-transporters were designed and built by Marion Power Shovel Company using some components designed and built by Rockwell International at a cost of Template:USD (Template:USD in 2022) each.<ref name="transport20120905" /> Upon its construction, the crawler-transporter became the largest self-powered land vehicle in the world until it was beaten in 2013 with the production of the ultraheavy XGC88000 crawler crane. While other vehicles such as bucket-wheel excavators like Bagger 288, dragline excavators like Big Muskie and power shovels like The Captain are significantly larger, they are powered by external sources.

The two crawler-transporters were added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 21, 2000.<ref name="nris" />

SpecificationsEdit

File:Crawler-transporter cutaway view.gif
Diagram of a crawler-transporter

The crawler-transporter has a mass of Template:Convert and has eight tracks, two on each corner.<ref name="NASAsci" /> Each track has 57 shoes, and each shoe weighs Template:Convert. The vehicle measures Template:Convert. The height from ground level to the platform is adjustable from Template:Convert, and each side can be raised and lowered independently of the other. The crawler uses a laser guidance system and a leveling system to keep the Mobile Launcher Platform level within 10 minutes of arc (0.16 degrees; about Template:Convert at the top of the Saturn V), while moving up the 5 percent grade to the launch site.<ref name="KSC-05PD-1322" /> A separate laser docking system provides pinpoint accuracy when the crawler-transporter and Mobile Launch Platform are positioned in the VAB or at the launch pad.<ref name="KSCpao" /> A team of nearly 30 engineers, technicians and drivers operate the vehicle, centered on an internal control room, and the crawler is driven from two control cabs located at either end.<ref name="spotlight" /><ref name="bbc20190626" /> Before the launch the crawler-transporter is removed.

The crawlers were overhauled in 2003 with upgrades to the Motor Control Center, which houses the switchgear and electrical controls of all of major systems on board; a new engine and pump ventilation system; new diesel engine radiators; and replacement of the two driver cabs on each vehicle (one on each end).<ref name="spotlight" /> After the 2003 refit, each crawler had 16 traction motors, powered by four Template:Convert generators, in turn driven by two Template:Convert V16 ALCO 251C diesel engines. Two Template:Convert generators, driven by two Template:Convert engines, were used for jacking, steering, lighting, and ventilating. Two Template:Convert generators were also available to power the Mobile Launcher Platform. The crawler's tanks held Template:Convert of diesel fuel, and it burned Template:Convert.<ref name ="NASAsci" />

Due to their age and the need to support the heavier Space Launch System and its launch tower, in 2012–2014 the crawlers were undergoing an upgrade involving "new engines, new exhausts, new brakes, new hydraulics, new computers"; CT-2 was further upgraded in 2014–2016 to increase its lifting capacity from Template:Convert.<ref name="transport20120905" /><ref name="NSF-2012-11" /><ref name=CT-2_upgrade/>

The crawlers traveled along the Template:Convert Crawlerways, to LC-39A and LC-39B, respectively, at a maximum speed of Template:Convert loaded, or Template:Convert unloaded.<ref name="bbc20190626" /><ref name="NASA-cways" /> The average trip time from the VAB along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39 is about five hours.<ref name="NASAsci" /> Each Crawlerway is Template:Convert deep and covered with Alabama and Tennessee river rock for its low friction properties to reduce the possibility of sparks. In 2000, NASA unearthed and restored an Apollo-era segment of the Crawlerway to provide access to High Bay 2 in the VAB in order to provide protection from a hurricane for up to three Shuttles at the same time.<ref name="space20000813" />

Kennedy Space Center has been using the same two crawlers since their initial delivery in 1965. They are now nicknamed "Hans and Franz", after the parodic Austrian body-builder characters on Saturday Night Live, played by Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon.<ref name="diesel-power" /> In their lifetime, they have traveled more than Template:Convert, about the same driving distance as from Miami to Seattle.<ref name="spotlight" />

Future useEdit

Crawler-Transporter 2Edit

NASA currently uses crawler-transporter 2 to transport the Space Launch System with the Orion spacecraft atop it from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B for the Artemis missions. Early in 2016, NASA finished upgrading crawler-transporter 2 (CT-2) to a "Super Crawler" for use in the Artemis program.<ref name="CT-2_upgrade" /> NASA performed a rollout of the Artemis 1 Space Launch System and Orion on March 17, 2022 for the first Wet Dress Rehearsal, and the rollout for launch, which launched in November 2022. The rollout for the WDR, marked the first time one of the crawler transporters rolled a launch vehicle to the launch pad since STS-135.<ref name="spacecom-2022025" />

Crawler-Transporter 1Edit

NASA had originally planned for crawler-transporter 1 to be used by commercial launch vehicles.<ref name="NASA-crawler-50" /> In April 2016, then Orbital ATK, now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, and NASA entered negotiations for the lease of CT-1 and one of the four Vehicle Assembly Building bays.<ref name="florida-atk-picked-vab" /> Northrop Grumman planned to use CT-1 to transport their OmegA from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B. OmegA was cancelled in September of 2020 after Northrop Grumman lost the National Security Space Launch contract to United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.<ref name="spacenews-omega" />

Appearances in popular cultureEdit

The crawler-transporters have featured in television and movies. In a 2007 season three episode of Dirty Jobs, host Mike Rowe helps workers maintain a crawler-transporter and takes the vehicle for a short drive.<ref name="discovery2007" /> The crawler was also seen in the 1995 film Apollo 13, the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the 2019 film Apollo 11. Similar vehicles also appeared in the 2013 film Pacific Rim.

In the 2009 Fallout 3 video game add-on pack "Broken Steel", the US government survivors, The Enclave, have a mobile base built on and into a heavily modified crawler. In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, various units are called "crawlers" and feature chassis based on the crawler-transporters. In Asphalt 8: Airborne, three crawler-transporters drive over the space center French Guiana track.

GalleryEdit

  • LC-39 Observation gantry pano.jpg

    Crawlerway junction at the LC-39 observation gantry. The right track leads to pad LC-39A (pictured with Template:OV), while the left track leads to pad LC-39B.

  • Ap11-KSC-69PC-241HR.jpg

    Saturn V, service structure and MLP on top of a crawler

  • Crawlertreds.jpg

    Detail of crawler treads

  • STS-79 rollout.jpg

    Template:OV (STS-79) atop an MLP (and crawler beneath)

  • STS-114 rollout.jpg

    A crawler-transporter carrying Template:OV (STS-114) travels the ramp to Launch Pad 39B. The vehicle's back end can be raised, keeping the Shuttle and the MLP level.

  • STS-51-L - Space Shuttle Challenger on the Crawler-Transporter.jpg

    Template:OV atop an MLP atop a crawler, in transit to its launch pad prior to its final flight, January 28, 1986

  • Ares I-X rollout on mobile launch platform.jpg

    Crawler carrying the Ares I-X atop an MLP

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project

  • Template:Coord - Crawler-transporter parking area at Kennedy Space Center

Template:Kennedy Space Center Template:NASA centers {{#invoke:navbox|navbox | name = Apollo program | title = Apollo program | state = autocollapse | image = Emblem of the Apollo program | bodyclass = hlist | above =

| below =

  • Symbol † indicates failure or partial failure

| group1 = Launch complexes | list1 =

| group2 = Ground facilities | list2 =

| group3 = Launch vehicles | list3 =

| group4 = Spacecraft and rover | list4 =

| group5 = Flights | list5 = {{#invoke:navbox|navbox|child 

 | group1  = Uncrewed
 | list1   =

| group2  = Crewed
| list2   =

| group5 = Saturn
development | list5 =

| group6 = Abort tests | list6 =

| group7 = Pegasus flights | list7 = 

 }}

|group6 = Apollo 8 specific |list6 =

|group7 = Apollo 11 specific |list7 =

|group8 = Apollo 12 specific |list8 =

|group9 = Apollo 13 specific |list9 =

|group10 = Apollo 14 specific |list10 =

|group11 = Apollo 15 specific |list11 =

|group12 = Apollo 16 specific |list12 =

|group13 = Apollo 17 specific |list13 =

|group14 = Post-Apollo
capsule use |list14 =

|group15 = Related |list15 =

}} Template:Apollo program hardware Template:Skylab Template:Space Shuttle Template:Project Constellation Template:Artemis program

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Crawler-transporter&oldid=723981"