NASA gave Hensel Phelps a contract worth up to $263.8 million to build at least one, and perhaps two, 390-foot-tall mobile launchers that will transport the Ares I rocket to the launch pad and provide ground support for launches at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The mobile launcher will fill a similar role to that of the crawler that transports the space shuttle (with the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters) from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
Hensel Phelps, of Orlando, Fla., would receive the full $263.8 million if all options are exercised under the contract awarded by KSC.
The mobile launcher will support the Ares I and the vehicle’s associated ground support equipment. It will be used to assemble, test and service Ares I, the rocket that will loft the Orion space capsule into orbit.
Under the Constellation Program, NASA is developing the Orion-Ares spaceship system to go first to low Earth orbit beginning with an initial manned flight in 2015, then to the moon around 2020, and then, someday, to Mars.
The mobile launcher will transport the Ares I rocket to the launch pad and provide ground support for launches.
A mobile launcher consists of the main support structure that comprises the base, 390-foot-tall tower and facility ground support systems, which include power, communications, conditioned air, water for cooling, wash-down, and ignition over-pressure protection.
Hensel Phelps will supply all labor, materials and equipment necessary for construction of the Ares I mobile launcher. Ground support equipment, such as umbilicals, propellant and gases, instrumentation, controls and communications, necessary to support the Ares I rocket will be provided and installed under a separate contract or contracts.
The tower of the mobile launcher will have multiple platforms for personnel access. Construction will take place at the mobile launcher park site area located north of the VAB.