OUTDATED Apollo: Mobile Launch Pad Placed at Launch Site (Blender Animation)
The average trip time from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is about five hours. The crawler keeps the mobile launch pad (MLP) level as it climbs the ramp to the launch site. And once it is set down and fastened to the stanchions, the crawler returns to its parking space near the VAB. Once the MLP is in place, various electrical, fuel, oxidizer, environmental and pneumatic lines are hooked up.
Ground Connection Notes
MLP side 4 (East) (Atlantic Side) towers starting from the North:
-LH2 and GH2 tower
-Pneumatics Tower
-RP-1 Tower (RP-1 is kerosene. Used for first stage)
-Engine Servicing Tower
MLP side 2 (West) towers starting from the North:
-LO2 Tower
-Environmental Control System (ECS) tower
-Access Stairway Tower
-Facilities Tower
-Electrical Power Tower
Crawler notes:
Contractor: Marion (Marion Logo on the cabs. Logos were replaced
later with NASA logos)
Engines:
-2 x 2,750 hp V16 ALCO 251C diesel engines driving 4 x 1,341 hp
generators for traction
-2 x 1,065 hp engines driving 2 x 1,006 hp generators powering
auxiliaries (jacking, steering, lighting and ventilation)
Transmission: 16 x traction motors, 4 per corner.
Length: 131 ft
Width: 114 ft
Weight: 6,000,000 lbs
Speed: 2 mph unloaded; 1 mph loaded
Tracks: 6 tracks with 57 shoes per track. Each shoe weighs 1,984 lb
crawler animation notes:
-cab windows and instrument panel as well as the engineering spaces are not period realistic nor current. It is more from the space shuttle era whose drawings were better available.
Mobile Launch Platform:
contractor:
platform/tower: Ingalls Iron Works
swing arms: Hayes International
weight: 8,230,000 lbs unloaded
animation depiction: This is ML-3 which was first used for Apollo 4. This animation is for Apollo 15 which did use ML-3.
Animation notes:
Animation done in Blender 4.2.3 with all models built by me.
Models have much more detail than my previous videos. Unlike my previous models, these use a lot of instancing and arrays which allowed me to reduce the vertex count significantly.
Used 30 FPS for rendering
Used the lower quality EEVEE engine to reduce render times
-Depicted timelines are much faster than real life. Hooking up the MLP to ground services involves lots of manual labor that I don't animate. The crawler speed driving away from the MLP is about the right speed.
-Extensible columns were used to stiffen the MLP against rebound loads caused by and engine cutoff. I do not show these columns.