Mobile Launcher 2 Cable Contract Awarded to Sidus Space
Bechtel Corporation has selected Sidus Space to manufacture cables for the NASA Mobile Launcher 2 project. Sidus was previously awarded a contract to fabricate custom cables and populate unique electronics cabinets supporting the launch control subsystem and ground special power subsystems.
“Continued work from Bechtel on this important project helps demonstrate the consistent quality of our production.”
Carol Craig.
Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2) is the ground platform structure that will launch Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B and Block 2 configurations to the Moon, allowing the agency to send astronauts and heavy cargo to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Artemis program. ML2 is the primary interface between the ground launch control system and the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft flight hardware.
“Our extensive experience in Space and Defense hardware manufacturing is an important component of our end-to-end Space-as-a-Service offering, which has proven to be a stable and growing revenue stream for us as we develop and market new offerings,” said Carol Craig, Sidus Space Founder and CEO. “Continued work from Bechtel on this important project helps demonstrate the consistent quality of our production.”
Mobile Launcher 2 Moves Huge Spacecraft
The mobile launcher consists of a two-story base that is the platform for the rocket and a tower equipped with a number of connection lines, called umbilicals, and launch accessories that will provide SLS and Orion with power, communications, coolant, fuel, and stabilization prior to launch. The tower also contains a walkway for personnel and equipment entering the crew module during launch preparations.
During preparations for launch, the crawler-transporter will pick up and move the mobile launcher into High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The launcher will be secured atop support posts and the crawler will move out. The Orion spacecraft will be stacked atop the SLS rocket and processed on the mobile launcher.
The launcher will roll out to the pad for launch on top of the crawler-transporter, carrying SLS and Orion. After the crawler-transporter makes its eight-hour trek to the pad just over four miles away, engineers will lower the launcher onto the pad and remove the crawler-transporter. During launch, each umbilical and launch accessory will release from its connection point, allowing the rocket and spacecraft to lift off safely from the launch pad.
(Source: Sidus Space news release. Additional information and images provided by NASA)