Project details:
- Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
- Sector: Aerospace, Special Structure
- Status: In Construction
- Products: Custom Castings
NASA’s Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2) is a highly complex infrastructure system designed to enable the assembly and launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Rocket and Orion spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This responsibility requires meticulous design, planning, and execution, with safety and quality integrated into every step. Once completed, ML2 will represent a remarkable engineering feat. Standing 377 feet tall, it will support the assembly and processing of the SLS Rocket and Orion spacecraft for NASA’s upcoming lunar missions, beginning with Artemis IV.
Now, a year and a half into construction, our custom cast steel nodes are visible within the tower chair’s primary steel assembly and first module stack, which has reached well over 80ft from the base.
CAST CONNEX custom cast steel nodes were commissioned for ML2 as they helped to minimize ML2’s weight, enhanced modular fabrication and assembly, and facilitated field-bolted construction. The cast nodes eliminated intricate TYK welding and dramatically improved fabrication and assembly tolerances. Essential to the structure’s integrity, our components facilitate the modularization of tower sections both in the shop and in the field.
Bechtel and Paxton & Vierling Steel (PVS), the design and construction team behind NASA’s Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2), opted to leverage steel castings to minimize ML2’s weight, enhance modular fabrication and assembly, and facilitate field-bolted construction.
Read More on the Project from Bechtel.
Project Credits:
Owner: NASA
Structural Engineer: Bechtel Corporation
General Contractor: Bechtel Corporation
Steel Fabricator: Paxton & Vierling Steel Co.
