Subj : Boeing expanding SLS Core Stage production to KSC to build Artemis inv
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From : NasaSpaceFlight
Date : Sat Dec 10 2022 17:00:04

Boeing expanding SLS Core Stage production to KSC to build Artemis inventory

Date:
Sat, 10 Dec 2022 16:54:14 +0000

Description:
Boeing, the prime contractor for NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage, 
is adding two The post Boeing expanding SLS Core Stage production to KSC to 
build Artemis inventory appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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Boeing, the prime contractor for NASAs Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage, 
is adding two new work locations at the agencys Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 
Florida as the company looks to support increases in the production rate of 
the launch vehicle. The completed engine section structure for the third Core 
Stage is being transported by barge from NASAs Michoud Assembly Facility 
(MAF) in New Orleans to KSC, where Boeing will now outfit the most 
complicated element of the SLS inside the Space Station Processing Facility 
(SSPF). 

 

After the rest of the third Core Stage unit is completed at Michoud, it will 
also be barged to KSC, where final assembly will be moving into High Bay 2 of 
the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at KSC. The large volume of the VAB High 
Bay will allow Boeing to store completed Core Stages without interfering with 
continuing production, which frees up more space at Michoud to expand 
operations there for production of the new Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) for 
the next generation of the SLS vehicle. 

 Establishing KSC Worksites to Expand Overall Production 

The initial goal for the SLS program is to reach a flight rate of one launch 
per year, but NASA and its prime contractors for the vehicle studied for a 
long time how to increase the production of its boosters, engines, and stages 
to reach higher flight rates. Boeings expansion of Core Stage production to 
Florida was born out of those continuing discussions. 

NASA had asked us to do some studies on developing a process to deliver one 
and a half cores per year or three every two years and also up to two per 
year, John Shannon, Boeings Vice President and Program Manager for SLS, said 
in a Dec. 6 interview with NASASpaceflight. Operations at MAF [are] going 
extremely well. We learned a lot about how to assemble the vehicle, what it 
takes during the Core Stage-1 and now Core Stage-2 builds. 

 SLS successfully completed its first launch on Nov. 16 , sending NASAs 
human-rated Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I mission to orbit the Moon. The 
Block 1 configuration of the vehicle, which launched Artemis I, uses a 
modified version of United Launch Alliances Delta IV upper stage; however, 
NASA and Boeing are developing an in-house upgrade called the Exploration 
Upper Stage (EUS), which is also being manufactured and assembled at Michoud. 
The Core Stage-3 engine section structure being loaded on the Pegasus barge 
at MAF on Dec 4. (Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker) 

The Block 1B vehicle will combine EUS with the Core Stage and Boosters to 
increase trans-lunar payload performance from 27 metric tons to at least 38. 
Boeing had to factor in the overlapping, multi-phase production of both 
stages when considering how to increase delivery rates. We did facility 
studies , and with the addition of the entire Exploration Upper Stage set of 
tooling and assembly processes, it is really tight in the factory to be able 
to get two Core Stages out per year, Shannon said. So we started looking 
around [at] our options. 

Shannon said that building new facilities at Michoud was feasible but pricey. 
We also wanted to reduce the overall cost of the rocket  weve been working on 
affordability a lot, so we kind of turned our eyes to KSC because theres some 
really top-flight facilities that were being underused or not used at all, he 
noted. 

 See Also Artemis I Updates SLS Forum Section L2 SLS Section Click here to 
Join L2 

I was familiar with them from time in the [Space] Shuttle program and the ISS 
(International Space Station) program, and so we started talking to KSC, and 
we worked out an opportunity for us to start using the Space Station 
Processing Facility (SSPF), Shannon explained. Shannon was Program Manager 
for both programs, serving as NASAs Program Manager for the Space Shuttle at 
the end of the program and as Boeings ISS Program Manager before managing 
Boeings SLS Program. 

Beginning with Core Stage-3, Boeing is moving the outfitting and integration 
of all the Main Propulsion System (MPS) equipment inside the engine section 
structure to the clean room environment at the SSPF. In addition, they will 
stack completed engine sections with the rest of the stage in VAB High Bay 2 
after it is completed at Michoud and transported to Florida. 

We looked at [the KSC expansion plan] a little more and said that were also 
going to need a place to store Core Stages, and we looked at the VAB, Shannon 
said. High Bay 2 hasnt been used in a very long time, so we made a proposal 
to NASA to go do some demolition in High Bay 2, upgrade the crane, and build 
some pedestals in there. 

Shannon explained that Boeing will use the space in High Bay 2 in two ways. 
One is to store finished Core Stages in High Bay 2, and the other one is the 
ability to take [the other] four-fifths of the rocket and mate it to an 
engine section, he said. 

The other four of the five major elements of the Core Stage are, from top to 
bottom, the forward skirt, the liquid oxygen (LOX) tank, the intertank, and 
the liquid hydrogen (LH2) tank. Current production at MAF assembles and 
outfits those four elements separately first and then joins them together 
into a four-fifths assembly; when the engine section is completed, it is 
mated to the bottom of the LH2 tank to begin the final phase of overall stage 
assembly. 

So we said if we can bring down some engine sections, do some integration in 
the SSPF, and then bring down the 4/5ths thats completed from Michoud, then 
we can do the stacking inside of the VAB High Bay 2 and really shorten our 
production time, Shannon pointed out. Boeing estimates both per-unit 
cost-savings and an increase in production rate. 

Were estimating around 50 million dollars [of savings] per Core, and we can 
do more than two Core Stages per year by utilizing the additional facilities, 
Shannon said. Credit: NASA/Jude Guidry. 

 (Photo Caption: NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine looks at the Artemis I 
engine section when it was in production at MAF in August 2018. He is looking 
through the top of the clean-room environmental enclosure that has to be set 
up and broken down during integration at MAF. In the SSPF at KSC, the entire 
high bay is maintained at a 100k cleanliness level, which should eliminate 
the need to build up and break down smaller enclosures around different parts 
of the engine section.) 

He noted that Boeing took the results of this study and their recommendations 
to NASA and their other stakeholders earlier in the year. We had proposed it 
to NASA over the summertime [and] said this is really the only way we can get 
to a two-plus a year [production] rate, Shannon said. 

We asked to get the ability to get into High Bay 2, so Boeing said well take 
on the cost of doing the mods to the high bay. The SSPF we really didnt have 
to do mods to, but we showed NASA that this is a better way to reduce the 
cost of the vehicle by reducing production time significantly. Were in a mode 
of trying to save costs now that we understand how to produce the vehicle, so 
NASA was all on board with doing that. 

Shannon said that Boeing also consulted with their stakeholders in Louisiana 
about the impact of the proposed changes at Michoud. We explained to them 
that this isnt taking any jobs out of Louisiana, it is actually increasing 
the production rate at Michoud, along with giving us the space to do the 
upper stage work, so were going to end up hiring more people there, so they 
were happy with it, as well, he said. 

It made sense all the way around, and then it was just making sure that we 
had all of our logistics covered to be able to ship engine sections and get 
the parts there and be able to hire up the right team to be able to do the 
assembly. For the long-term health of the program, this is a very positive 
move. 

 Engine Section Integration in SSPF 

Work to outfit engine sections with all their internal equipment and most of 
their external thermal protection system (TPS) is already in the process of 
moving to the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC. Structural assembly 
of engine sections will continue at MAF in New Orleans, where all of the 
friction-stir welding and bolted-assembly tools are in place. 

The engine section structure of the element consists of a welded barrel, a 
welded mating ring, and a bolted thrust structure; the barrel and ring are 
then bolted to the thrust structure in a floor assembly jig (FAJ) at MAF . 
Thousands of bolts structurally integrate the barrel and the thrust structure 
while its in the jig, and some secondary structures like brackets to hold 
electrical wiring and other equipment are also added during this phase of 
assembly. 

The Core Stage-3 engine section has completed its structural assembly at MAF, 
and on Dec. 4, the structure was rolled out of the rocket factory in New 
Orleans and onto NASAs Pegasus barge docked at Michoud to be transported to 
KSC. [The engine section] is not shipped with the boattail on it, but it is 
shipped with all the major structures in it and the thrust structure 
installed, so from a structural build standpoint, its as far as we can go at 
MAF, Shannon said. When we would normally get into a clean room environment, 
thats when we ship it to KSC for integration. Credit: NASA/Glenn Benson. 

 (Photo Caption: The Artemis I Orion Stage Adapter is received in the Space 
Station Processing Facility in April 2018. Boeing has allocated two of the 
eight large work area footprints on the SSPF high bay floor for Core Stage 
engine section integration work. The Core Stage-3 engine section will be 
positioned in Area 5, which is located on the right where the large American 
flag is. Area 7 is adjacent and behind that area on the right; work on the 
Core Stage-4 engine section will begin there next year after it is 
transported to KSC.) 

The SSPF high bay is a large clean room area for processing spaceflight 
equipment, which made it very appealing as a location to expand engine 
section production. Its a huge facility that is a 100K clean room, and it has 
an airlock in the front of it where you bring large pieces there, clean them, 
and then you can take them into this clean room, Shannon explained. We 
started thinking about that and realized that if we could do some of our 
final engine section integration work there, then we would alleviate 
ourselves from having to build all of the clean areas and the areas that are 
all shrouded by plastic and such that we have the purges going in, which 
saves a huge amount of time. 

During the outfitting/integration of the first two Core Stage engine sections 
at MAF, the clean area enclosures were set up right around the flight 
hardware and would need to be broken down and then rebuilt to allow MPS 
equipment to be flown inside  lifted and lowered inside by crane. A large 
cover with the same 8.4-meter diameter as the engine section sealed the top 
of the clean area. 

Weve got that big shower cap over the top, and every time that we fly any 
hardware into the engine section, we take that cap off, and then we fly [the 
MPS hardware] in there, and then we put the cap back on, and then weve got to 
go through the purge cycle to get it back to a clean room environment, 
Shannon said. You dont have to do any of that [in the SSPF] at KSC; once it 
comes through that airlock, it is in a clean room environment, and youre able 
to do all of assembly and all of your work  youre not waiting around for the 
purge system to do its thing. 

Once Pegasus arrives at the KSC Turn Basin, Shannon said the structure will 
be rolled off the barge and rolled down the road to the SSPF: Well offload 
it, clean it in the airlock [at the SSPF], and set it up in the tooling that 
is set up inside the SSPF and get to work on it. 

The engine section for Core Stage-3 is the first to be integrated at KSC, but 
Boeing has reserved floor space in the SSPF high bay for simultaneous work on 
a second one beginning next year with the engine section structure for Core 
Stage-4. The floor is marked out into eight big rectangles, Shannon said. 
Right now, weve got rectangle number five to put all of our tooling, and weve 
got the team with their computers doing ship-side support, and they fill up 
that area pretty well. We can also do some offline work on some subcomponents 
that we fly into the engine section. 

And then next July, were going to have section seven, which is the farthest 
back rectangle on the right-hand side if youre looking at the back wall. So 
five and seven will be side-by-side, so well have engine section three and 
engine section four being built at the same time back there. 

The engine section, where the powerheads of the four RS-25 engines and all 
the supporting MPS equipment come together, is the most complicated element 
of the SLS vehicle as a whole and the Core Stage specifically. At KSC, all of 
the wire harness runs for the electronics will be laid out and eventually 
interconnected. All of the pneumatic, hydraulic, and cryogenic tubing will 
also be welded and bolted together, along with the installation of 
instrumentation and avionics. 

Later in integration offline subassemblies like the four thrust vector 
control (TVC) platforms that carry the hydraulic systems equipment and the 
five large helium composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) bottles for 
the MPS pneumatic system will be flown by cranes into the engine section for 
installation. The engine section will go through a standalone functional test 
and then, when its ready to be mated to the rest of the Core Stage, it will 
be covered up, rolled out of the SSPF, and driven up the road to VAB High Bay 
2. 

 VAB High Bay 2 Has Room for Core Stage Storage and Vertical Stacking 

While the first engine section integration will begin in the SSPF, Boeing 
will also be working to outfit and configure VAB High Bay 2 for final 
assembly of a full Core Stage and storage of another. High Bay 2 was 
maintained as a hurricane shelter storage location for a completed Space 
Shuttle stack over the last decade of the program; after Shuttle was retired, 
NASA leased the high bay to Northrop Grumman for launch integration of its 
OmegA commercial launch vehicle . 

 Cancellation of the OmegA program in 2020 left the high bay again open for a 
commercial partner, and Boeing is now beginning work to turn it into a final 
assembly and storage area for SLS Core Stages. Credits: NASA/Bill White 
(left) and Kim Shiflett (right). 

 (Photo Caption: VAB High Bay 2 as seen in 2017 and 2019. Two of the Space 
Shuttle External Tank checkout and storage cells can be seen on the 
left-hand, north wall of the high bay. Boeing is planning to convert some of 
that infrastructure into a storage cell for completed Core Stages. A 
processing cell to support final assembly of another Core Stage will be 
created on the right-hand, south wall. Boeing will also be refurbishing the 
yellow, 325-ton crane that services High Bays 1 and 2 which can be seen on 
the far left attached to a proof load fixture.) 

During the Space Shuttle program, NASA had four storage/checkout cells for 
External Tanks (ET) adjoining the tower structure between VAB High Bays 2 and 
4, Tower B. Each of the four high bays is flanked by towers; High Bay 2 has 
Tower B on its north wall and Tower A on its south wall. Shannon said that 
some of the checkout cell infrastructure will be retained on the north Tower 
B side for storing one Core Stage, but Boeing will also develop final 
assembly processing cell on the south Tower A side. 

The diameter obviously is the same between the stages and the ET, so were 
going to leave some of the platforms in, he said. There was an old [Mobile 
Launch Platform] that were going to end up [demolishing], were going to have 
to fix up the crane, and were going to have to build a pedestal. 

For the most part, its not a huge amount of work; well use both the north 
wall and the south wall of High Bay 2 to fit two Core Stages in there. Well 
use existing platforms and build scaffolding off of that to get access, and 
well have a really nice place to store our Core Stages kind of out of [the] 
way in the VAB but also where we can work on them and get them prepped up to 
be moved over to High Bay 3 when needed. 

Boeing spokesperson Megan Gessner noted in an email: Core Stage 3+ processing 
will be on the A tower side and consist of a base pedestal system and 
multiple platforms to access the vehicle internally and externally. An 
additional pedestal stand will be emplaced on the Tower B side and have the 
capability to stand up a Core Stage vertically. 

This Tower B side will provide access to the engine section volume and 
partial access to other volumes internally and externally via various levels 
of existing ET check-out cell platforms, Gessner added. 

Boeing will be working with a frequent partner, Futuramic , on the new 
tooling to support both vertical storage and final assembly of Core Stages. 
Shannon was planning to begin discussions with them soon: Im going to thank 
[Futuramic] for all their support to Artemis I first, and then were going to 
go through the design of the pedestals and tooling, he said. 

Boeing hopes to have an initial set of tooling by the middle of 2023. The 
(demolition) contracts have been let, and I think that work will be starting 
pretty soon, Shannon added. Credit: Philip Sloss for NSF. 

 (Photo Caption: Placard as seen entering the VAB in 2012. Boeing will outfit 
a storage cell for a completed Core Stage on the north Tower B side of High 
Bay 2 and a processing cell for finishing assembly of Core Stage elements on 
the south Tower A side.) 

The initial use of the tooling could be as early as the third quarter of 
2023, demonstrating the vertical storage capabilities of VAB High Bay 2. Work 
continues at Michoud on hardware for the next three cores, including the 
completion of Core Stage-2 in the first half of 2023. 

Were finishing our final testing on the engine section; well rotate it right 
after Christmas, Shannon said. You take it over to the Building 110 area, 
[and] you add the big weights on it to counter-balance it. 

After the engine section is rotated from its vertical orientation with its 
counter-balancing structure attached to horizontal, it will be brought back 
to the final assembly area at MAF and mated to the rest of Core Stage-2. Well 
rotate it, bring it back over, and [after mating it to the rest of the stage] 
do checkouts, engine installs, and all the final TPS work on it, and then 
first half of next year well be rolling Core Stage 2 out, Shannon said. 

Thats well ahead of the need date for Artemis II for other reasons, and so 
well take it to KSC and itll be in the [VAB] Transfer Aisle for some series 
of months. While it might be possible to store the completed second Core 
Stage that will be used on the Artemis II mission, there arent many places 
even at the large facilities at Michoud to put it without interfering with 
the ongoing work on hardware for the third and fourth builds. 

Its a good problem to have, but we realize theres some pinch points in the 
factory flow [at Michoud] to have multiple, almost full-size, 212-foot 
vehicles maneuvering around, and so this is really going to help us, Shannon 
noted. Even within the large confines of the VAB, storing Core Stage-2 on its 
side in the Transfer Aisle takes up a lot of floor space; once the VAB crane 
for High Bay 2 is upgraded and the new tooling is ready, the plan is to lift 
the stage, rotate it to vertical, and put it in the new storage cell on the 
north wall of the high bay. 

Well do some work in the Transfer Aisle [on Core Stage-2], but then well 
stand it up in High Bay 2 and finish every bit of work that has to be done on 
it, Shannon said. So when we lift the Core Stage over to High Bay 3 and we 
mate it to the Boosters [for Artemis II], it is a completely finished, 
ready-to-go Core Stage, and we dont have to do some of the work that we had 
to do on Artemis Is vehicle. Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker. 

 (Photo Caption: The Core Stage-3 engine section structure is moved at MAF on 
Nov. 7 to be prepared for shipment to KSC. In the background, the structure 
of the Core Stage-4 engine section is seen in a floor assembly jig, where the 
barrel, ring, and thrust structure are being bolted together. That unit could 
be shipped to KSC as soon as next July to begin its integration.) 

Depending on the availability of the new storage cell and the integration 
schedule for Artemis II, Core Stage-2 could be in storage vertically in VAB 
High Bay 2 for a few months or longer. To increase Core Stage production 
beyond the one unit needed for the initial flight rate, Boeing is looking to 
build a small inventory of these large rocket stages in the VAB for NASAs 
Artemis launch schedule. 

We want to get ahead by a couple of Cores from the manifest, and I think 
probably by the Artemis V or VI time frame, well be able to do that, Shannon 
said. 

 Workforce Hiring at MAF and KSC to Support Production Expansion 

The addition of a second Core Stage production site at KSC will require an 
increase in the workforce at both locations. Were really not impacting the 
workforce at MAF; were actually staffing up there because when you do this, 
it enables you to get more vehicles in flow, and if you have more vehicles in 
flow, you need a larger workforce to do that at Michoud, Shannon said. 

Michoud will still be completely assembling and mating the other four major 
Core Stage elements, and Boeing is adding the entire EUS production cycle to 
that work. The plan right now is to finish four-fifths of the rockets 
completely [and] also to finish the EUS completely before we ship [them] of 
[Michoud], Shannon said. 

And I would even say theres the potential down the road that well have two 
engine sections in work at the SSPF and two engine sections in work at 
Michoud if we have a way to jockey the space around to support that, but 
right now we think just from a floor space use standpoint that would be a 
little more difficult to do. 

Shannon also noted that the Michoud workforce in New Orleans plans to stay. 
There are very few people that work at MAF that are moving to Kennedy Space 
Center, he said. Most of the people working at MAF like working at MAF. Weve 
really tried to focus on hiring local talent in Louisiana. Thats where theyre 
from, where they like to work, so theyre staying. 

As Boeing transitions from design to initial production of EUS flight and 
test hardware for its first flight, they are looking ahead to having both the 
liquid stages for the Block 1B vehicle in full production at the same time. 
Were increasing the number of people at MAF by about 125 people, and thats to 
support the additional vehicles that weve got under flow and also to do the 
Exploration Upper Stage work, so theyre fully staffed and going up a little 
bit, Shannon said. Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon. 

 (Photo Caption: The top four-fifths of Core Stage-2 are seen after they were 
joined in March; from left/aft to right/forward are the LH2 tank, intertank, 
LOX tank, and forward skirt. Boeing will continue to fully outfit the four 
elements individually and then bolt and connect them at MAF. Beginning with 
Core Stage-3, the four-fifths assemblies will then be shipped to KSC where 
they will be attached to engine sections in the VAB.) 

Boeing already has a large presence on the Space Coast, with the headquarters 
of its Space and Launch Division in Titusville, Florida; the workforce at KSC 
will also expand. We had a pretty good Boeing footprint down there supporting 
other vehicles, like Commercial Crew [Starliner] or X-37; theyre available to 
us, and were also hiring people, Shannon said. 

Shannon also noted that they had added people in Florida to support the 
effort to launch Artemis I, and they could also be a part of the new Core 
Stage work at KSC on the engine sections in the SSPF and the full stages in 
the VAB. Its really about 145 at KSC for what we have [planned] now, and that 
would go up a little bit once we get Core Stage 4s engine section there, he 
said. But right now, our target is about 145 people. 

In terms of logistics and support, Boeing will move existing tooling to KSC, 
but Michoud will remain central to the logistics supply chain. Were still 
kitting the parts at Michoud, so were not changing where the suppliers send 
the hardware, Shannon said. We have a pretty intricate and mature system for 
kitting the different pieces at Michoud, and then we send them by truck to 
Kennedy, where theyre inspected before they go into the SSPF and then get 
installed. 

Weve modified a building at KSC where we can take [support] hardware in, do 
the inspections, and then get it over to the SSPF. 

 (Lead image: The Core Stage engine section for Artemis III on board Pegasus 
for transport to KSC. Credit: NASA) 

The post Boeing expanding SLS Core Stage production to KSC to build Artemis 
inventory appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/12/boeing-expanding-cs-prod/


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