From Atlas V to Falcon XX - Commercial suitors wanted for Pad 39A

[Jim]

Quick thought after a quick clean, wrap and heat seal in plastic with oxygen removed, and nitrogen replaced. 

You are going to try to shrink wrap this?

[D_Dom]

Nitrogen purge? How much will that cost over time

[Prober]

Quick thought after a quick clean, wrap and heat seal in plastic with oxygen removed, and nitrogen replaced. 

 

You are going to try to shrink wrap this?

Yes, its not "rocket science" 
 
In another thread is chat about a $150,000 grant to make 3D food.  The winners of the grant are using parts that cost less than $500 to build (reprap printer).  Point being, priorities 
 

[Prober]

Nitrogen purge? How much will that cost over time

How much damage will the weather due over time. Pay now or pay later.

[Jim]

Quick thought after a quick clean, wrap and heat seal in plastic with oxygen removed, and nitrogen replaced. 

 

You are going to try to shrink wrap this?

Yes, its not "rocket science" 
 

Doesn't matter, it is not feasible.  the structure is over 200 feet high.

[DDG40]

 They used the shrink wrap method at MAF. I can't say a nigrogen purge was done. Fluids were removed and replaced by a preservation fluid.
The stand could be wraped but I wonder if the birds and hail wouldn't make a mess out of the shrink wrap.

[JBF]

They used the shrink wrap method at MAF. I can't say a nigrogen purge was done. Fluids were removed and replaced by a preservation fluid.
The stand could be wraped but I wonder if the birds and hail wouldn't make a mess out of the shrink wrap.

MAF is also an indoor facility.

[DDG40]

No its not an outdoor facility. The largest thing wrapped outside atm is four ET transporters.

[Prober]

a sad news item.
 

[edkyle99]

a sad news item.

In my eyes, what would be sad would be to let the pad go unused. 

When I first started working at KSC, Shuttle was new.  The remains of one of the Saturn V umbilical towers was cut up and tossed into a field behind the Industrial Area.  One of the last S-IVB stages, a pathfinder stage, was fading in the sun tossed in another field.  Both were sold for scrap.  In the eyes of an Apollo aficionado, the new Shuttle service tower erected on the Apollo launch pad was an abomination!

Now, years later, some of the Shuttle buildings I worked in have been demolished.  Others have been gutted and re-purposed.   I'm hoping that 39A sees a better future than, say, the VPF.

 - Ed Kyle

[Prober]

a sad news item.

In my eyes, what would be sad would be to let the pad go unused. 

When I first started working at KSC, Shuttle was new.  The remains of one of the Saturn V umbilical towers was cut up and tossed into a field behind the Industrial Area.  One of the last S-IVB stages, a pathfinder stage, was fading in the sun tossed in another field.  Both were sold for scrap.  In the eyes of an Apollo aficionado, the new Shuttle service tower erected on the Apollo launch pad was an abomination!

Now, years later, some of the Shuttle buildings I worked in have been demolished.  Others have been gutted and re-purposed.   I'm hoping that 39A sees a better future than, say, the VPF.

 - Ed Kyle

The major difference this time, is the fact the pad will be transferred outside of NASA.

Buy their actions, the current NASA management can't be trusted. 
 
The SLS will need a pad how far away is a working pad to launch her?
 

[Jim]

What does that mean?

[docmordrid]

I hear him talking but he barely comes in. Perhaps he's questioning how NASA and commercial operators could share a pad? A possible answer is -

[JBF]

Hmmm the concept is sound even if the arrangement may not be.  Each company has a TEL where the connections to the pad are specified and common but the rest is unique to each rocket.

[newpylong]

 
The major difference this time, is the fact the pad will be transferred outside of NASA.

Buy their actions, the current NASA management can't be trusted. 
 
The SLS will need a pad how far away is a working pad to launch her?
 

I have no idea what you're getting at here. But, SLS is using LC-39B next door. 39A has been deemed excessive for NASA's current and future capabilities. The logical and NOT SAD thing to do would be to lease it to someone else who can make use of it. Right now it's sitting there rotting.

[Prober]

 
The major difference this time, is the fact the pad will be transferred outside of NASA.

Buy their actions, the current NASA management can't be trusted. 
 
The SLS will need a pad how far away is a working pad to launch her?
 

I have no idea what you're getting at here. But, SLS is using LC-39B next door. 39A has been deemed excessive for NASA's current and future capabilities. The logical and NOT SAD thing to do would be to lease it to someone else who can make use of it. Right now it's sitting there rotting.

But as I understand it LC=39B is close to a "clean pad" now.  Who says it will be funded?
Remember management doesn't want the SLS 

Who deemed it excessive?   Once its gone its gone.  How do we know in the near future we wish to go to Mars and need to pads to do it?

Those who now say the pad is excessive last year claimed we were going to an asteroid in deep space.  They now claim that program can't be done, we can't afford it.  So the new thinking is we bring the asteroid to the moon.

[spectre9]

NASA doesn't need to launch the SLS twice.

The idea is to put everything you need on one super capable Block II vehicle.

[guckyfan]

NASA doesn't need to launch the SLS twice.

The idea is to put everything you need on one super capable Block II vehicle.

That's for the moon. Going to Mars will need multiple launches.

[JBF]

But as I understand it LC=39B is close to a "clean pad" now.  Who says it will be funded?
Remember management doesn't want the SLS 

Who deemed it excessive?   Once its gone its gone.  How do we know in the near future we wish to go to Mars and need to pads to do it?

Those who now say the pad is excessive last year claimed we were going to an asteroid in deep space.  They now claim that program can't be done, we can't afford it.  So the new thinking is we bring the asteroid to the moon.

You have missed the main point, NASA does not have the money to do anything with the pad. If they don't do anything with the pad, by law, they must turn it into a historic site and return it to what it was like for Apollo, which they also don't have the money for. 

The thing is, it's not going to be gone, it's not going to be sold, it's not going be demolished. It's going to be leased, which means in the future, if NASA needs it, they can always not renew the lease.  In the meantime the pad itself is maintained.

[Halidon]

But as I understand it LC=39B is close to a "clean pad" now.  Who says it will be funded?

I think you're confusing issues or terminology. 39B's "clean pad" is already being worked on as part of the program, 39A's basically been in stasis since its last launch. Unless someone's going to stack a new STS mission, 39A's further from launching rockets than 39B.