Sarens signs a collaboration agreement with NASA : The Belgian company, world leader in heavy lifting and transport engineering, will carry out improvement works on the Artemis II program, which will be responsible of taking the first woman to the Moon. This project will lay the first steps for sending the first human expedition to Mars.
Florida – NASA has once again chosen Sarens, world leader in heavy lifting and transport engineering, to collaborate in the works related to the space program and the Artemis expedition. This work alliance has been developed through a decade now, in which both companies have been working together on different projects. The Artemis II mission is in full swing, with the goal of sending the first woman to the Moon in 2024, which represents one of the greatest challenges of the decade, due to the amount of preparation that this program requires. The mission will aim to create a base camp on the surface of the moon for further research on the satellite. This project is only the beginning, and it will lay the groundwork for sending the first human expedition to Mars.
The focus of this work is to prepare the infrastructure for future programs with the same relevance as Artemis II, by upgrading the existing crane, which has a capacity of 27 tons. The new Sarens high-rise crane is, fail-safe and has the capacity to lift until 30 tons thanks to its structure and materials. This update of the machinery is aimed to achieve better maneuvering and lifting capacity, facilitating the long-term works and construction processes to be carried out at the John F. Kennedy Space Station facilities. Sarens, based on its years of experience carrying out complex jobs, decided that the most efficient and successful way to develop this operation would be dividing it into 5 phases:
1. Firstly, the team of engineers and specialists analyzed the magnitude of the project to get an overview of the complexity. Then they began planning the operations, weighing up which type of machinery was best suited to the needs of a job like this.
2. Sarens then mobilized the tools, team and machinery to the project site. For this operation, the necessary crane had to be moved from South Carolina to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the space station is located, traveling approximately 715km. Once at the project site, works began by constructing the working cranes in order to begin the replacement of the older crane which will be the basis of construction for future NASA programs.
3. The next step came with the construction of the new fail-safe crane, with a capacity of 30 tons. This crane was assembled in just two days, using the crane it replaced.
4. After installation, the old crane was dismantled and, along with it, the trolley, end carriage, drive mast and forwarding mast were also disassembled using the Sarens hydraulic lifting unit (HLU).
5. Finally, all the material used in the operation was collected, together with the dismantled machinery.
The main challenge of this project was regarding space, due to the dimensions of the building, there was little room to maneuver with the machinery to take a part the 27-ton crane, if this crane was not dismantled, it would have been impossible to have space to construct the new one. Thanks to its years of experience and its knowledge of technical solutions, Sarens proposed to dismantle the crane from the base. A complex maneuver that, thanks to the knowledge of the Sarens team and its experience in the sector, went smoothly and was achieved with great success.
Finally, Sarens after repeated collaborations with NASA since 2008, carried out this work as efficiently as possible, without logistical problems and with a key coordination, a really important component for projects of these characteristics and importance.
Check the development of the project in the following link:
Massive Crane in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center – YouTube
About Sarens
Sarens is the global leader and benchmark in crane rental, heavy lift and engineered transportation services. With state-of-the-art equipment, value engineering, one of the world’s largest inventories of cranes, transporters and specialty rigging equipment, Sarens offers creative and intelligent solutions to today’s heavy lift and engineered transport challenges.
With more than 100 entities in 65 countries operating without borders, Sarens is an ideal partner for small to large-scale projects. Sarens currently employs 4,543 highly skilled professionals who are ready to serve the needs of any client worldwide and in all market sectors. (www.sarens.com)
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