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Pad 40 was the home of the mighty Titan IV rockets, but now SpaceX is moving in. Details on their plans highlighted below.
I love the part where they say the Falcon 9, big as it is, will be assembled in the hanger then rolled put and launched within ONE HOUR
Needless to say their system is a bit more modern than NASA's.
Before
After
I love the part where they say the Falcon 9, big as it is, will be assembled in the hanger then rolled put and launched within ONE HOUR
Needless to say their system is a bit more modern than NASA's.
Before
After
The landscape of Cape Canaveral is changing, a fact illustrated Sunday when a Titan-era gantry was blasted to the ground to clear the historic Air Force launch pad for new commercial rockets.
With Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, a former astronaut and now commander of the 45th Space Wing at the spaceport, calling a ceremonial countdown, 200 pounds of explosives detonated at 9 a.m. to topple the Complex 40 mobile service tower.
The massive structure was built in the early 1990s to support the Air Force's Titan 4 rocket program. Weighing nearly 6,500 tons and outfitted with a satellite processing area boasting a cleanliness to rival an operating room, the gantry supported 17 flights of the big booster that deployed sophisticated surveillance and communications spacecraft for the U.S. government and NASA's Cassini space probe to Saturn.
"In its day, it was the largest rocket that launched the largest payloads," said Kevin Hooper, 45th Civil Engineering Squadron project manager for the pad demolition. "The most elaborate and expensive payloads were launched on the Titan 4 rocket by the Air Force."
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SpaceX began working at Complex 40 last October, removing the umbilical tower, propellant systems and other equipment not usable for Falcon. But other key parts of the pad will remain.
"Lots of important infrastructure is being utilized," said Tim Buzza, SpaceX's vice president of launch.
He noted the pad's the concrete deck and flame duct, the water deluge system, the site's electrical system, the lightning towers and the instrumentation bay beneath the pad will be reused, and the "Ready Building" at the complex's entrance has been refurbished for SpaceX office space.
Work still to be accomplished includes construction of the major propellant ground support areas:
* Twin 28,000 gallon tanks to hold the highly refined RP-1 kerosene fuel
* The liquid oxygen farm with a single 125,000 gallon sphere
* Gaseous nitrogen and helium storage
And a rocket assembly hangar will be built at the site.
"Design is nearly complete, the building has been ordered and the foundation construction will start in June," Buzza said. "It is 75 feet wide by 225 feet long and 50 feet tall. It can handle a single Falcon 9 or Falcon 9 Heavy."
The first rocket is expected to arrive at the Cape by year's end.
"We process horizontally in the hangar and roll out and go vertical on a transporter erector," Buzza explained. "Our goal is to be able to roll out, erect and launch within an hour. We won't achieve this on the first few launches as we will take extra time to make sure everything is just right, but as we stabilize the design and work out the bugs we will work towards that goal."
The Falcon 9 will be powered by nine Merlin engines to generate nearly a million pounds of thrust. An on-pad engine test firing is planned for the first vehicle.
Besides launching satellites, the future of Falcon 9 also includes NASA's commercial transportation plans to reach the international space station after the space shuttles are retired in 2010.
"There is going to be a need to resupply the space station on an ongoing basis. SpaceX is going to be one of the centerpieces of what will be used to resupply the space station," NASA spokesman George Diller said.
"In addition, we are going to be launching unmanned spacecraft for space science and planetary probes as far out as we can see. And SpaceX is going to be using Falcon to compete for some of those payloads that we are going to be launching."
So despite the service tower's destruction on Sunday, the historic Complex 40 will live on.
"The role of the pad is changing," Diller said. "Complex 40 will still have a very important role as far as NASA is concerned because a new family of rockets is coming on board."
"It is one of only a few heavy-lift pads at the Cape," Buzza said. "SpaceX is very fortunate to have been granted use of Complex 40. We will put it to good use."
With Brig. Gen. Susan Helms, a former astronaut and now commander of the 45th Space Wing at the spaceport, calling a ceremonial countdown, 200 pounds of explosives detonated at 9 a.m. to topple the Complex 40 mobile service tower.
The massive structure was built in the early 1990s to support the Air Force's Titan 4 rocket program. Weighing nearly 6,500 tons and outfitted with a satellite processing area boasting a cleanliness to rival an operating room, the gantry supported 17 flights of the big booster that deployed sophisticated surveillance and communications spacecraft for the U.S. government and NASA's Cassini space probe to Saturn.
"In its day, it was the largest rocket that launched the largest payloads," said Kevin Hooper, 45th Civil Engineering Squadron project manager for the pad demolition. "The most elaborate and expensive payloads were launched on the Titan 4 rocket by the Air Force."
>
>
SpaceX began working at Complex 40 last October, removing the umbilical tower, propellant systems and other equipment not usable for Falcon. But other key parts of the pad will remain.
"Lots of important infrastructure is being utilized," said Tim Buzza, SpaceX's vice president of launch.
He noted the pad's the concrete deck and flame duct, the water deluge system, the site's electrical system, the lightning towers and the instrumentation bay beneath the pad will be reused, and the "Ready Building" at the complex's entrance has been refurbished for SpaceX office space.
Work still to be accomplished includes construction of the major propellant ground support areas:
* Twin 28,000 gallon tanks to hold the highly refined RP-1 kerosene fuel
* The liquid oxygen farm with a single 125,000 gallon sphere
* Gaseous nitrogen and helium storage
And a rocket assembly hangar will be built at the site.
"Design is nearly complete, the building has been ordered and the foundation construction will start in June," Buzza said. "It is 75 feet wide by 225 feet long and 50 feet tall. It can handle a single Falcon 9 or Falcon 9 Heavy."
The first rocket is expected to arrive at the Cape by year's end.
"We process horizontally in the hangar and roll out and go vertical on a transporter erector," Buzza explained. "Our goal is to be able to roll out, erect and launch within an hour. We won't achieve this on the first few launches as we will take extra time to make sure everything is just right, but as we stabilize the design and work out the bugs we will work towards that goal."
The Falcon 9 will be powered by nine Merlin engines to generate nearly a million pounds of thrust. An on-pad engine test firing is planned for the first vehicle.
Besides launching satellites, the future of Falcon 9 also includes NASA's commercial transportation plans to reach the international space station after the space shuttles are retired in 2010.
"There is going to be a need to resupply the space station on an ongoing basis. SpaceX is going to be one of the centerpieces of what will be used to resupply the space station," NASA spokesman George Diller said.
"In addition, we are going to be launching unmanned spacecraft for space science and planetary probes as far out as we can see. And SpaceX is going to be using Falcon to compete for some of those payloads that we are going to be launching."
So despite the service tower's destruction on Sunday, the historic Complex 40 will live on.
"The role of the pad is changing," Diller said. "Complex 40 will still have a very important role as far as NASA is concerned because a new family of rockets is coming on board."
"It is one of only a few heavy-lift pads at the Cape," Buzza said. "SpaceX is very fortunate to have been granted use of Complex 40. We will put it to good use."