NASA delays SLS rollback due to concerns over rocky path to launchpad NASA's Moon rocket is to trundle back into its shed today after a delay caused by concerns over the crawlerway. The massive transporter used to move the Space Launch System between Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and launchpad requires a level pathway and teams have been working on the inclined pathway leading to the launchpad …
All over the world they use tracks. A few of them in parallel. Solves most issues, even when transporting not straight paths. Also solves the issue of vibration, which is why the crawler is really very slow. But not USA, they stick to their system, even if it is more expensive.
It is remarkable that SpaceX can move a vehicle of comparable size (and much less complexity) without mangling it so thoroughly.
Blue Origin have rolled mockups about but in the absence of hardware we don't know how they perform (yet).
Perhaps there is something to this keep-it-simple architecture rather than the infinite failure modes of SLS and it's Space Shuttle forebear. You know, that other expensive space vehicle that was slated throughout it's entire existence for being over-complex and lacked exit plans for far too many failure conditions.
Congress money lobbying and printing will continue over rational project selection for the time being.
They should just replace the crawler's tracks with SPMTs in rows. Cheaper, faster, more capacity, infinitely expandable, etc. And off the shelf. Mammoet moves 10,000+ things all the time with these things. They're not rocket science any more.
Indeed, those SharePointMigrationTools have proven to be able to move 10000+ things.
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I know Self-Propelled Modular Transporter, but every time someone throws in an abbreviation expecting everyone to know which is the only right interpretation I cannot resist :P .
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