NASA Wallops Flight Facility Launch Pad-0B Structural Support
Location Wallops Island, VA
Client Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS)
Date of Completion 2008 - Present
Services #Civil / Site Engineering #Structural Engineering
Sectors #Aerospace & Aviation #Industrial
Launch Pad-0B is a launch complex at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, VA. LP-0B became operational in 1999 and was subsequently upgraded with the construction of a mobile service tower, which was completed in 2004. It is currently used by Minotaur rockets. The first launch from LP-0B was of a Minotaur I in December 2006 and was the first launch from MARS. Pad 0B was also used for the failed ALV X-1 suborbital flight in 2008. A Minotaur I with TacSat-3 launched from the complex on May 19, 2009. Aboard a Minotaur V expendable launch vehicle, the Lunar Atmosphere Dust Environment Experiment – better known as LADEE – lifted off from Pad 0B at the Wallops Range Sept. 6, 2013. Vector Space Systems announced on October 19, 2017 that their upcoming Vector-R rocket will be conducting three launches in the next two years, with an option for 5 additional launches, from pad 0B.
GMB has provided engineering support services for Launch Pad-0B from 2008 to the present. These projects have included:
- Minotaur VI Feasibility Study for Gantry Extension
- LADEE Lift Plans
- Gantry LADEE Levels 1-5 Hinged Platform Modifications
- Concrete Foundation Improvements
- Structural Review of Chinook 800 Air Heater
- Door Actuators Replacement
- Mobile Service Structure (MSS) Operable Roof Door Design
- Mobile Service Structure (MSS) Vertical Extension Design
- Perimeter Lighting
- Analysis & Modifications
