Who will supply their upper stage ? They need a Lox-LH2 upper stage to cover all EELV missions, right ?
"This full-scale motor case segment will be cast with inert solid rocket propellant in early 2018 and shipped to the launch site for check-out of ground operations."KSC? - Ed Kyle
Quote from: edkyle99 on 11/07/2017 08:22 pm"This full-scale motor case segment will be cast with inert solid rocket propellant in early 2018 and shipped to the launch site for check-out of ground operations."KSC? - Ed KyleAFAIK:Inert solid rocket segment are used to test the casting procedure. This will be done in Utah. This will also involve the X-ray examination (CT-scan) of the inert segment. (standard quality test for solid rocket (segments).Then just like the STS/SLS solid rockets, they transport the inert segment by rail to KSC. There they will test if the segments can be handled inside the VAB and other facilities. Are there facilities at VAFB to handle the RSRB/Castor X00 segments? Were these facilities completed for launching STS from SLC-6?I'm very pleasantly surprised OATK is in fact producing this Compost RSRB replacement. (There segments are roughly the same size as P120c [larger diameter but shorter, same propellant load].){I'm sorry, for posting this here, when this this was supposed to be a update topic, without discussion.}
Solid rocket motor segments are shipped has by rail from the manufacturer in Utah, and stored in the solid rocket booster facility. The facility has the capacity to store two complete flight sets -- 16 segments and related hardware. There the solid propellant is inspected for damage and final flight preparations are made with all the SRB components. The motor segments are then transported to the pad individually and stacked by the MST's overhead crane. The two boosters contain four segments each with special flight hardware attached to the top and bottom segments. They are 149 feet high, 12 feet in diameter and weigh approximately 1.3 million pounds each. Together at liftoff, they generate nearly 5.2 million pounds of thrust.
To reach the Orbiter, the external tank would be shipped by barge from Louisiana to the tank landing facility at Point Arguello Boathouse, south of SLC-6. It then would follow a two mile tow route to the tank checkout facility for processing, subsequently proceeding to the launch pad for stacking. Booster segments were shipped via rail to a receiving and subassembly facility, which also refurbished booster forward and aft skirt sub-assemblies. The launch control center at SLC-6 monitored launch operations. Prior to launch the servicing towers would be moved on rails away from the pad area.Booster recovery was to be conducted at Port Hueneme, 85 miles southeast of VAFB near Oxnard. The water retrieval operations were similar to those at Kennedy Space Center, FL. Port Hueneme also housed the initial wash facility and the booster disassembly facility.(36)
36. See for example, "Slick Six," by Edgar Ulsamer, Air Force Magazine, November 1985, pp.49-51' "Vandenberg Planning for the Space Transportation System," by Lt. Col. Aubrey B. Sloan, USAF, in Astronautics and Aeronautics, November 1981, pp.44-50; "USAF Nears Verification Checks of Vandenberg Launch Facilities," by Bruce A. Smith, Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 21, 1985, p.79
Did ATK/Thiokol preserve the winding machine for the FWC's that would be used from SLC-6? If this was the case, OATK only had to refurbish this facility. And the design for the FWC could be taken from the archive to develop the Castor x00 family.
Quote from: Mike Jones on 11/07/2017 06:43 pmWho will supply their upper stage ? They need a Lox-LH2 upper stage to cover all EELV missions, right ? It has yet to be publicly announced if OA will either build or have someone supply their upper stage, but in the Blue Origin Section discussions pointed to an BE-3UEN LRE powered upperstage.Latest OA NGL FactsheetIt does leave out the Stage-0 GEM-63XL SRM's in the factsheet as the GEM motors were still in development at the time.
Quote from: Rik ISS-fan on 11/07/2017 11:24 pmDid ATK/Thiokol preserve the winding machine for the FWC's that would be used from SLC-6? If this was the case, OATK only had to refurbish this facility. And the design for the FWC could be taken from the archive to develop the Castor x00 family.I do not know because those were Fiberglass and the new ones are carbon fibre.