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However, unlike the SpaceX pad, 39B also removed the Fixed Service Structure (FSS), which SpaceX will instead keep in place and modify ahead of crewed Falcon 9 launches with the Dragon 2 spacecraft.<\/p>\n
Pad 39B\u2019s future is to be a \u201cclean pad\u201d, which allows for multiple users to roll up to the pad on a Mobile Launcher (ML) and utilize its infrastructure by \u201cplugging into\u201d its utilities.<\/p>\n
With the new structures now in place above the pad\u2019s surface, work in the bowels of the pad has been conducted, starting with the refurbishment of the Flame Trench.<\/p>\n
The Trench is 490 feet long, 58 feet wide and 42 feet deep and built with concrete and refractory brick bisected the pad at ground level. Following the transition from Shuttle to SLS, the trench has received 93,000 new bricks, with the last of the new additions being laid just this month.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-07-24-161712-350x234.jpg\")
While this work was taking place, engineers demolished and removed the legacy Flame Trench system, allowing for a replacement to be installed in its place.<\/p>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
The Flame Deflector system for Shuttle included an inverted, V-shaped steel structure covered with a high-temperature concrete material five inches thick that extended across the center of the Flame Trench.<\/p>\n
One side of the \u2018V\u2019 received and deflected the flames from the main engines; the opposite side deflected the flames from the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). There were two movable deflectors at the top of the trench to provide additional protection to hardware from the SRB plumes.<\/p>\n
While repair work was conducted on concrete slopes and surfaces around the pad, the Flame Trench work has now moved on past a major milestone on its path to gain a new deflector.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-07-24-162319-350x289.jpg\")
This involved the erection of steel and the installation of the large Ignition Over-Pressure\/Sound Suppression (IOP\/SS) manifold pipe. The deflector will be built around this foundation.<\/p>\nThe two holes in the top of the pipe are for two large standpipes that feed water to the deluge sprinkler heads that line the top of the deflector.<\/p>\n
The deflector is shaped like a quarter-pipe skateboard ramp facing the north that will direct the exhaust plume of the SLS Core Stage and SRBs all in one direction out the other end of the Flame Trench.<\/p>\n
Work on the design of the deflector involved the use of NASA Ames\u2019 supercomputer, which helped draw up the deflector design \u2013 one that could withstand the high heat from plume exhaust, that did not result in plume blow-back, and whose surface pressure was within design margin limits.<\/p>\n
![\"2015-02-06](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2015-02-06-03_30_39-Flame-Deflector-SLS-Google-Search-350x233.jpg\")
This design has a certain amount of legacy as it is classed as similar to that used during the Apollo era.<\/p>\nFurther design work on the new flame deflector continued through 2014, ahead of the confirmation that J. P. Donovan Construction of Rockledge, Florida had been selected as the contractor, with a maximum value of $24.9 million for the contract.<\/p>\n
This deflector is known as the \u2018universal flame deflector\u2019, tasked with accommodating SLS and other commercial launch vehicles, although only SLS is a confirmed future tenant of the pad at this time.<\/p>\n
While Orbital ATK is looking to launch their NGL from 39B, there have been rumblings of SpaceX inquiries into the potential \u201cpart lease\u201d of 39B for its subscale BFR vehicle, allowing 39A to continue uninterrupted with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy obligations.<\/p>\n
It is unclear if SpaceX had a serious interest in this potential or if KSC had attempted to nudge SpaceX to become part of its much-required elements per its multi-user brief for 39B. It may also be politically toxic for a NASA funded pad to host a subscale BFR \u2013 which would be an SLS-class rocket even in its smaller configuration \u2013 on the SLS pad.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-07-24-202650-350x187.jpg\")
Regardless, SpaceX is still understood to have a primary focus is using 39A for BFR \u2013 as shown in the reveal video during Elon Musk\u2019s IAC speech. Word of official work on subscale BFR has been known since the Spring of this year (L2) but officially confirmed by Mr. Musk at last week\u2019s ISSRDC.<\/p>\nUpdated information has allowed for a preliminary envisioning process (via L2 Envisioning) with pad engineers and experts evaluating a second, larger, Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) outside the pad perimeter, allowing the subscale BFR to roll to an additional mount along the same trench at 39A. An article on this 39A option will follow in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
(Images: NASA, L2 SLS and L2 SpaceX (Subscale BFR on 39A via Jay Deshetler, in addition to Cameron Byers and John Archer, based on notes from KSC pad engineers)).<\/p>\n
(To Join L2, Click here: \/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Engineers have begun to install the new Flame Deflector into the Flame Trench of Pad 39B. Following the demolition of the legacy deflector that catered for the Space Shuttle, a large Ignition Over-Pressure\/Sound Suppression (IOP\/SS) manifold pipe has now been installed ahead of surrounding it with the new universal deflector for the Space Launch System […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7871,624],"class_list":["post-38758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-39b","tag-sls"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}