Re: Ares V to require construction of a new "super crawler"?



Glen Overby wrote:

The NASA crawler carrying rockets standing up has always seemed a bit
precarious compared to the primitive simplicity of the R7/Soyuz horizontal
transport on a train.



The N-1/Energia transporter makes our crawler look positivly simple:
http://www.hrw.com/science/si-science/earth/spacetravel/spacerace/SpaceRace/sec300/img/381L1bP1b.JPG
http://www.electronicintellect.net/Baikonur/crawler/4.jpg

If we have to build a supercrawler, then it would be a good opportunity to
revisit that decision. It would also be a good time to revisit the model of
constructing the launcher in the VAB and transporting it to the pad. The
"occupied pad" model with a rocket on it being built on it may be a better
alternative for a rocket that is only going to launch a couple of times a
year. A lot of our infrastructure and launch model is based on frequent
launches (we never had 4 bays filled with Saturn V rockets, even though the
rocket scientists dreamed of it). In another thread, the explaination of
loading payloads at the pad vs VAB had to do with VAB scheduling, and was an
assumption based on a high flight rate.

If we admit that the flight rate of Aries V is going to be low, then can make
different decisions that make more sense for the flight rate.


.

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