![]() Artemis will see us return to the Moon in the first step to Mars. ![]() Crawler Transporter Two, CT-2 in NASA speak, has been upgraded for the new SLS rocket, part of project Artemis. Crawler Transporter One also helps out Elon Musk and his SpaceX programme. The Crawler Transporters have carried every big project NASA has lobbed into space since the early Apollo missions. It’s crush resistant, reducing spark risks: Sparks and rocket fuel- nuff said. The rock was chosen for its availability, and mineral hardness (2 points less than a diamond). As the Crawler edges towards its destination at around 0.8 to 1mph, (flat out is 2mph) it rides on top of a crust of Alabama river rock that sits atop the reinforced road. The crew swap over driving duties every forty five minutes to prevent fatigue setting in. For the record they are 7.5 feet long 1.5 feet wide and weigh in at 950KG (2100 pounds) Each of them is taller, wider and heavier than your average Florida citizen- hard to accept I know. Each tread has 57 ‘shoes’ or tread plates. There are eight of them (two per corner). The tracks or treads, as you would expect, are quite something. Rotating the tracks required sixteen traction motors, in turn powered by four 1341hp generators. Two 1000hp generators provided power for the steering, lighting, etc. (2721 tonnes) It was powered by two V16 Alco diesel engines each producing 2750 horsepower. By the time they had finished each Crawler was 131 feet long and 114 feet wide with a curb weight of six million pounds. In 1964 the Marion Shovel Company of Ohio won the fourteen million dollar contract (about 120million today) to build the Crawlers. Once at the launch pad it would be required to offload its cargo within half an inch. It also had to spread the weight of that load evenly over its tracks. The Crawler would need to make adjustments to keep the rocket, its umbilical tower and its mobile launch platform, perfectly perpendicular on its journey. The Crawler was designed to slide under a Saturn V and its launch platform, then lift up and cart the ensemble to the launch complex.Ĭarrying immense weight was only half the problem. A series of stabilizers, and a custom designed and laid down road bed, are essential to keeping the rocket upright.Initially NASA boffins looked at building a canal or rail track, but found more issues than answers so they settled on a road, a heavily reinforced road, sixty feet deep, and a vehicle the world had never seen the like of. The crawler positions itself inside the VAB unit, gets under the Saturn booster, positions it in place and begins its journey to the launch pad. From a control tower located on the outside perch of one of the treads, the crawler is capable of going forward and reverse with independent control of each tractor. ![]() Starting with a structural steel platform measuring approximately 130 feet by 114 feet it sits on four tank chassis each with a pair of treads to distribute the considerable load. Just consider the magnitude of that weight and the gargantuan task of moving a massive trocket perfectly steady and upright for that distance all at a speed of 1 mph! ![]() It weighs over 5 million pounds and was and is one of the most specialized and heavy duty pieces of machinery ever devised to transport a Saturn V rocket weighing 500,000 pounds and an 11 million pound rocket tower to a launch pad almost 4 miles away. The NASA Crawler-Transporter was built by the Marion Power Shovel Company in the 1960's as part of the Apollo Moon program. ![]()
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