Chapter
Apr 26, 2012
Design of a Light Weight Mobile Launch Structure for the Ares I Launch Vehicle
Authors: Christopher J. Brown [email protected] and Alan C. Littlefield [email protected]Author Affiliations
Publication: Structures Congress 2010
Abstract
NASA, Kennedy Space Center has designed a new, lightweight mobile launch structure (Mobile Launcher) for the Ares I launch vehicle. The challenge was to build the new Mobile Launcher (ML) at or below the weight of the Space Shuttle Mobile Launch Platform while adding a 120 m tall by 12 m square tower to support the Ares I. The weight of the Mobile Launcher is limited by the capacity of the existing Crawler Transporter, which is 5.7 x 106 kg. Previous Mobile Launcher designs used primarily plate girders, rolled sections, and flat plate. The lightweight design combines a mixture of plate girders, HSS and rolled section trusses, and corrugated plates and sheets. The design team was challenged by specific requirements for stiffness and natural frequencies, reversing loads, multiple indeterminate restraint conditions, and the natural and induced (launch) environment.2
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Information
Published In
Structures Congress 2010
Pages: 2600 - 2610
Copyright
© 2010 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
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ASCE Technical Topics:
- Aerospace engineering
- Aircraft and spacecraft
- Building design
- Business management
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Federal government
- Girders
- Government
- Highway transportation
- Infrastructure
- Materials characterization
- Materials engineering
- Mixtures
- Organizations
- Plate girders
- Plates
- Practice and Profession
- Space colonies
- Space structures
- Structural engineering
- Structural members
- Structural systems
- Transportation engineering
- Vehicles
Authors
Affiliations
NASA, Kennedy Space Center, NASA Engineering Analysis Branch, Mail Code NE-M1, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899. E-mail: [email protected]
NASA, Kennedy Space Center, NASA Engineering Development Directorate, Mail Code NE-D1, Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899. E-mail: [email protected]
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