NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
General Discussion => Q&A Section => Topic started by: AS_501 on 06/13/2023 09:17 pm
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Is there a central hypergolic loading facility, or several facilities, that service hypergolic spacecraft at the Cape? I would assume that such a facility is hundreds or thousands of yards from anything else. Also, I assume that hypergolic technician's wear Level 1 (or whatever the nomenclature is) hazmat suits during loading.
Thx!
PS: I read somewhere that if you simply smell the fragrance of a hypergolic propellent, you're dead.
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There are multiple places where hypergolic fuels are loaded into various payloads. SpaceX has their own, NASA has their own, Boeing has their own, etc.
They are somewhat separated from everything else, but hypergolic fuel loading, while hazardous, is largely treated as part of the normal payload processing routine.
NASA's is called the "Multi-Payload Processing Facility" or MPPF. The MPPF is located about 1 mile from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout building where Orion is assembled.
SpaceX calls theirs the Payload Processing Facility, or PPF. It's in an old Titan building that used to process solid rocket motors. It's about 1.5 miles south of SLC-40. It's less than a mile down the road from the building that ULA is using to process and integrate Vulcan rockets.
Boeing's Starliner assembly facility is the old Orbiter Processing Facility-3 building, now called Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility, or C3PF, somewhere in there is where they load the hypergolics. The X-37B's hangar is the former Orbiter Processing Facility-1. I presume they have hypergolic fuel loading equipment there as well. The OPFs are located about 800 feet west of the VAB at KSC.
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On the robotic side, there's PHSF and SAEF-2. There used to be a "Hypergol Maintenance Facility Area" in the KSC Industrial Area, not sure it's still there.
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Just wondering where Peregrine will likely be fueled.
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On the robotic side, there's PHSF and SAEF-2. There used to be a "Hypergol Maintenance Facility Area" in the KSC Industrial Area, not sure it's still there.
The HMF was a Apollo-era facility that was extensively modified for the shuttle where the OMS pods and FRCS modules underwent their offline processing away from the orbiters in the OPFs.
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Just wondering where Peregrine will likely be fueled.
No idea, but LRO was fueled and encapsulated at Astrotech in Titusville and not at any KSC facility. Using Astrotech has become increasingly common with many NASA science missions, so it wouldn't surprise me if it happens there.
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Ok, this is my main area of expertise and knowledge.
Here goes
Cape:
EPF (NRO facility) has 4 bays
SpaceX PPF (SMAB) - West bay (former SPIF) has 2 cells. East bay (former IUS facility) has one cell
SpaceX Dragon Facility - Former DPF in Area 59 (2 bays)
KSC:
Boeing C3PF (former OPF 3)
Boeing X-37 facility (two bays) (former OPF 1 & 2)
LSP PHSF
EGS MPPF
HMF, SAEF-2 & VPF have been gone for years
ASO
Building 2 (2 bays)
Building 9 (3 bays)
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Is there a central hypergolic loading facility, or several facilities, that service hypergolic spacecraft at the Cape? I would assume that such a facility is hundreds or thousands of yards from anything else.
Not quite what you would think.
Added circle to photo.
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Also, I assume that hypergolic technician's wear Level 1 (or whatever the nomenclature is) hazmat suits during loading.
Thx!
SCAPE Suits
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Ok, this is my main area of expertise and knowledge.
Here goes
Cape:
EPF (NRO facility) has 4 bays
SpaceX PPF (SMAB) - West bay (former SPIF) has 2 cells. East bay (former IUS facility) has one cell
SpaceX Dragon Facility - Former DPF in Area 59 (2 bays)
So, what is the distinction between a bay and a cell?
I am always in awe when I stumble into something that I never knew that I didn’t know.
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Ok, this is my main area of expertise and knowledge.
Here goes
Cape:
EPF (NRO facility) has 4 bays
SpaceX PPF (SMAB) - West bay (former SPIF) has 2 cells. East bay (former IUS facility) has one cell
SpaceX Dragon Facility - Former DPF in Area 59 (2 bays)
So, what is the distinction between a bay and a cell?
I am always in awe when I stumble into something that I never knew that I didn’t know.
A cell was just a term to describe a volume within a bay