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By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Hurricane Dorian advances on land likely to hit the Florida Peninsula in a matter of days, space agencies and US aerospace companies are sheltering millions of dollars in equipment and assets along the way. Space Coast.
Dorian, which is expected to strengthen in the Atlantic to become a Category 4 storm with winds reaching 130 km / h (209 km / h), could run dozens of launch pads owned by NASA, the US Air Force and companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin begin around Monday.
Governor Ron DeSantis said the state of emergency for all of Florida. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-dorian/trump-cancels-trip-florida-widens-state-of-emergency-as-hurricane-looms-idUSKCN1VJ0P1 The National Hurricane Center based in Miami describes category 4 storms that can cause "catastrophic damage", including significant damage to well-built homes.
The Kennedy Space Center of NASA announced Thursday that it would move its mobile launcher structure 650 meters high, from a height of 650 meters, used to assemble the agency's rocket for them. future moon missions from a launch pad and in the Vehicle Assembly Building, a 160-meter building) large complex built to withstand winds of up to 200 km / h (201 km / h). "Is it bullet-proof for a category 4? We do not know because nothing has been this hard," said Derrol Nail, spokesman for NASA center, about the building, consisting of more than 8,000 tons steel. "We saw him perform in storms between 100 and 110 miles at the time with minimal damage.
"This thing is an incredibly strong steel cage."
The Cape Canaveral Space Center announced that it would close Sunday with a small team of about one hundred people left in the launch control room to monitor the storm and the site's aerospace resources.
"Everyone has their procedures so you know what to do, how to react and adapt," Dale Ketcham, vice president of government relations at Space Florida, told the Reuters space economic development agency. based in the state. "Because with your staff and your investment, it makes no sense to be a rider when preparing for a hurricane."
A spokesman for the Boeing-Lockheed United Launch Alliance joint venture, whose rockets are being used to launch national security satellites, said the staff had started securing the rocket equipment this week and that its facilities could face winds over 130 km / h.
A spokesman for SpaceX, which has two launch pads on the coast, said it was taking steps to protect employees and facilities.
The US Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, announced cutting off power for non-essential facilities and urging base residents to prepare for possible hurricane force winds.
(Joey Roulette report in Washington, edited by Bill Tarrant and Grant McCool)
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