NASA
Kennedy Space Center, Florida

BRPH has supported every major space exploration and launch program at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, since the days of the Apollo moon missions, including commercial space ventures and programs involving NASA assets. In total, we have supported more than 400 NASA projects and task orders from routine to complex.

To support the new Space Launch System (SLS) Program, the successor to the Space Shuttle Program, BRPH performed a study to review site investigation findings, prepare conceptual design, identify design requirements, and calculate cost estimates to upgrade the Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) system at Launch Complex 39B. A challenging consideration was how to integrate a new 1.25-million-gallon (usable), estimated 1.4-million-gallon (total) storage sphere, vaporizers, flare stack, piping, valves, and associated infrastructure into the existing system.

Once the site location was finalized, the BRPH team further developed and defined system requirements to support the new SLS program, cost data, and construction schedule to support the addition of the new LH2 dewar. BRPH provided design services, including survey and geotechnical investigations, permitting, design drawings and specifications.

The LH2 dewar design project integrated the world’s largest LH2 ever fabricated or installed into the existing LH2 system. The new design included a new LH2 dewar, a series of vaporizers, dewar flare stack, vacuum jacketed piping transfer and fill lines that tie into the existing cross-country line and up to the mobile launcher, new vent line to the flare stack tanker unloading station, and pressurization systems. The new LH2 storage system is a complete separate system from the existing storage system with its own dedicated utilities.