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Kennedy Space Center NASA is preparing to deal with the arrival of Hurricane Dorian, which could hit Florida early next week.
These preparations include preparing the protection of the huge mobile launcher currently on a launch pad being tested in a part of NASA. Artemis Program to land astronauts on the moon in 2024, if the team decides that such a move is necessary. The Mobile Launcher is a tower designed to support the mega-socket of NASA's space launch system when it is on the launch pad for missions on the moon and beyond.
"We have a hurricane, which should arrive in Florida," said NASA's Derrol Nail in an updated video from the spaceport. "Thus, this particular launch tower, of a height of 400 feet, obviously risks being damaged by a hurricane if it makes a hit in this region".
Satellite photos: See Dorian Close in Puerto Rico as a tropical storm
Dorian became a hurricane Wednesday (August 28) as he was crossing the Caribbean Sea. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the hurricane is currently heading north-northwest on Friday, then heading to West in the North Bahamas during the weekend and shoot down on Florida on Monday. all are likely to change as the storm develops.
As usual for tropical storms and hurricanes, meteorologists looking for Hurricane Dorian strongly rely on satellite views of the storm. The latest images show the hurricane from the GOES-East satellite view of NOAA on August 28th and 29th.
NEW: The last visible satellite animation of this morning, taken from # GOES16 #HurricaneDorian, away from #PuertoRico and #VI to jump into the open waters of the Atlantic. Updates: @NHC_Atlantic pic.twitter.com/qtFJMofXjBAugust 29, 2019
Even if the storm ends up turning, for the moment, with regard to the first spaceport of the country, NASA would prefer to privilege the security.
The agency on Wednesday transferred its stormy crawler carrier from the Apollo era to 39B Launch Complex in case the team needed to bring the huge Launcher Launcher to the storm. This deployment must be done quickly because the tracked transporter is moving at only 1 mph (1.6 km / h).
The launch tower itself is 122 meters (400 feet) high, making it an obvious danger from the strong winds of a hurricane. NASA will decide today (August 29th) whether Dorian is sufficiently threatening to deserve the relocation of the launch tower in Kennedy's gigantic 52-storey Vehicle assembly For the safety.
The agency made similar decisions during the space shuttle program, which used a tracked transporter and a mobile launch platform to move orbiters to and from the dashboard, according to Florida Today.
The Kennedy Space Center visitor complex will be closed on Sunday, September 1, according to a press release.
Just as NASA prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Dorian, so does SpaceX, a private spaceflight company that launches Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 rockets from the Kennedy Space Center and the American Space Station. nearby Cape Canaveral Air Base. SpaceX is also building a prototype for its new Starship reusable rocket at its Florida facility.
"In coordination with our partners at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base and the Kennedy Space Center, we are keeping a close eye on the weather and plan to take every precaution to protect our employees and protect facilities in potentially affected areas." said a SpaceX spokesman at Space. com.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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