Mark
Twain had a great imagination, but he never pictured the
kind of cargo ready to journey down his beloved Mississippi
River. Deep in the cargo bay of a massive ship sit 12 rocket
parts whose launch will bring NASA one step closer to its
exploration goals to return to the moon for exploration of
the lunar surface and then to travel to Mars and
destinations beyond.
Engineers and technicians at NASA's Glenn Research Center,
in Cleveland, spent the last two years designing and
building the upper stage simulator of the Ares I-X test
rocket. Bound for NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the parts
will take a 12-day journey down the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers and into the Gulf of Mexico, arriving at Port
Canaveral in Florida where they will be assembled and sent
on a test launch in 2009.
For two years, NASA Glenn project managers examined many
transportation options because of the sheer size of the
parts.
"This is the first time we have ever shipped cargo of this
magnitude. These major rivers provide ports deep enough to
accommodate a ship and safe routes to reach Kennedy," said
Jeanine Hanzel, logistics manager.
During a two-day period, 12 tractor-trailer rigs arrived at
Glenn in Cleveland to load the 11 steel cylinders that are
18 feet wide and just under 10 feet tall, each weighing
between 24,000 and 60,000 pounds.
After all parts were secured, the wide-load caravan traveled
to Wellsville, a shipping port on the eastern Ohio River.
A massive crane carefully loaded the segments on the Delta
Mariner, a ship the length of a football field that is
designed to navigate both river and ocean routes. In an
effort to monitor any stress during transportation, each
segment was fitted with data loggers to measure temperature,
humidity and pressure.
The data will be collected when it arrives in Florida to
determine if adverse conditions were encountered that would
affect the segments during the trip," said Jack Lekan,
ground systems lead.
While the massive steel parts look like hollow cans, the
fabrication of each segment was anything but simple. The
manufacturing required a water jet, three times faster than
the speed of sound, to cut the carbonized steel. Then each
segment had to be rolled precisely into a perfect shape.
Welding was meticulously executed, with each weld undergoing
ultrasonic and radiographic testing.
"We had to prove the welds could bear the weight under
launch," said Therese Griebel, chief of manufacturing at
Glenn.
The parts will be assembled in Florida as a simulator for
the upper stage of the Ares rocket and tested during a
launch scheduled for 2009.
Segment being loaded onto the Delta
Mariner
From NASA: October 24, 2008
