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Robert Pearlman
Sierra Nevada Corporation release
Sierra Nevada Corporation Announces the successful Completion of Four Dream Chaser Milestones for NASA
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems announces that the Dream Chaser Space System has successfully completed four additional NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) Program Milestones.
The four Milestones included: Separation System Testing, Flight Article Main Landing Gear Drop Testing, Captive Carry Interface Testing, and a Captive Carry Flight Test Readiness Review.
Dream Chaser's Separation System Testing served to evaluate the Dream Chaser-to-Atlas V launch vehicle separation system. Such a system will be used to release the Dream Chaser from the Atlas V second stage after the launch vehicle has placed it into low Earth orbit.
The Flight Article Main Landing Gear Drop Testing successfully evaluated the performance of the landing gear selected for use on the Engineering Test Article for Approach and Landing Tests (ALT), scheduled for later this year. The Captive Carry Interface Test successfully tested the release mechanism that will be used during ALT, as well as for Captive Carry.
During the Captive Carry Flight Test Readiness Review, completed on May 24th, SNC management approved proceeding with the first full scale flight test of the Dream Chaser Flight Vehicle. During this risk reduction test, the Dream Chaser will fly under an Erickson Sky Crane helicopter to verify proper aerodynamic flight performance that will inform future free flight testing. The flight will occur near the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County, Colo.
“The Dream Chaser Team has made significant progress in hardware development during the Commercial Crew Program. The success of these milestones shows the rapid progress that a commercial company like SNC can make in partnership with NASA“, said Senior Director Merri Sanchez. Sanchez joined SNC after 28 years at NASA, her extensive experience within the agency includes serving as the X-38 Deputy Project Manager.
"NASA's Commercial Crew Program has created an opportunity for SNC to create an orbital crew transportation system that will safely and reliably transport astronauts to the International Space Station for a significant cost savings over traditional systems," said Mark Sirangelo, Corporate Vice President and head of SNC's Space Systems.
Robert Pearlman
Sierra Nevada Corporation release
Nose gear tested for Dream Chaser spacecraft
NASA partner Sierra Nevada Corp. has completed a successful test of the nose landing gear for its full-scale Dream Chaser engineering flight test vehicle. The completed test and an upcoming flight test are part of SNC's Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
The gear test is an important milestone to prepare for the upcoming approach and landing test of the Dream Chaser Space System later this year. It evaluated the impact the nose landing gear will experience on touchdown in order to ensure a safe runway landing.
SNC is one of seven companies developing commercial crew transportation capabilities to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is the only spacecraft under CCDev2 that is winged and designed to land on a conventional runway. It is designed to carry as many as seven astronauts to space.
"The landing gear system must perform flawlessly, just like the space shuttle orbiter's did, for the safe return of the crew," CCP program manager Ed Mango said. "It's great to see that SNC is building on that experience while developing the Dream Chaser spacecraft."
SNC tested the spacecraft's main landing gear in February. This nose landing gear test completes the milestones leading up to the upcoming approach and landing test, which will complete the CCDev2 partnership.
"This test marks a significant point in the development of the Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle. As the last milestone before free flight of the Dream Chaser spacecraft, we are now preparing for the approach and landing tests to be flown later this year," said Jim Voss, SNC vice president of space exploration systems and program manager for the Dream Chaser.
Robert Pearlman
Sierra Nevada Corporation release
Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser space system awarded major NASA orbital transportation development contract
Eren Ozmen, President of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), is pleased to announce that the company's Dream Chaser Space System has been awarded $212.5 million as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Program. The 21 month contract will begin in August of 2012.
Mark Sirangelo, Corporate Vice President and head of SNC's Space Systems stated, "SNC, as the owner and prime contractor for the Dream Chaser Space System, on behalf of all of our industry, academic, and NASA Center teaming partners would like to thank NASA for showing the confidence in us and for all its efforts to maintain the vital Commercial Crew Program as part of its plan for the future of space transportation. We are very pleased to have been awarded this amount of funding as part of NASA's ongoing effort to create a commercial human transportation system to low Earth orbit. This award will allow our Program to continue to make great strides in the development of the Dream Chaser Space System. We want to express our appreciation to all of those that have provided great support in our efforts, including everyone within our organization and our terrific external team partners, the NASA personnel assigned to our efforts and throughout the NASA Centers and our federal, state, and local government representatives."
SNC has integrated the efforts of its powerful team of leading aerospace companies, academic institutions, and NASA Centers to significantly advance the development of the Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle and the associated mission, ground, and crew systems, as well as launch vehicle integration. To date, the SNC team has completed 19 milestones; including a full system Preliminary Design Review and first captive carry flight, in addition to a significant number of additional tasks. The remaining milestone under the second round of NASA funding will be an Approach and Landing Test scheduled for later this year, mirroring the first flight test of the Space Shuttle Program. The full CCiCap Program will allow SNC to complete development of the Dream Chaser Space System and transport crews to space as early as 2016.
"We are pleased to be selected to continue development of the Dream Chaser Space System and proud that NASA is showing confidence in the SNC team's ability to develop our nation's next human spacecraft. Our team will continue to work with NASA to ensure that the Dream Chaser is a reliable and safe spacecraft to carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station," said Jim Voss, Vice President of SNC's Space Exploration Systems and Dream Chaser Program Manager. "I believe we were chosen to continue the Dream Chaser Program because we have a great design, a great team, and have demonstrated, in cooperation with our NASA Partner, that we can develop a human spacecraft in a rapid and cost effective manner."
Robert Pearlman
Sierra Nevada Corporation release
Sierra Nevada Corporation and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company Partner On Dream Chaser Programs
Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems is pleased to announce Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Littleton, Colo., is joining the SNC Dream Chaser team. Lockheed Martin will be an exclusive partner to SNC on NASA's Certification Products Contract (CPC) and has been competitively selected to build the composite structure for the Dream Chaser at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La. SNC was awarded $10 million for CPC Phase 1 to work with NASA towards government certification of the SNC Dream Chaser orbital crew transportation system.
"The SNC team is thrilled that Lockheed Martin will be joining our expanding world-class team of partner organizations also working to certify the Dream Chaser Space System for crewed flights to the International Space Station for NASA," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of SNC's Space Systems. "The CPC contract offers the Dream Chaser team the opportunity for a more robust technical interchange with NASA as we work to develop a safe, reliable orbital crew transportation system. This contract capitalizes on SNC's success working with NASA's Commercial Crew Program, as well as Lockheed Martin's expertise in developing and certifying Orion's beyond low Earth orbit human spaceflight hardware as part of NASA's Exploration Program. Our team will work towards the common goal of certifying the Dream Chaser to provide the next generation human transportation system."
Lockheed Martin is developing NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and brings extensive and current experience in obtaining NASA certification for a crewed flight vehicle to the Dream Chaser program.
"We are pleased to join the SNC Dream Chaser team. Lockheed Martin brings with it tremendous human-rated space flight knowledge from our significant experience with large, human-flight structures, including 135 flights with the Space Shuttle's external fuel tanks. We feel we can share many synergies between the Orion exploration spacecraft and the Dream Chaser lifting body space vehicle. This provides a great opportunity to take NASA's investments in crew exploration capabilities and leverage them toward commercial transportation to low Earth orbit," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager, Civil Space, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company.
The composite structure for the Dream Chaser flight test vehicle is being built under the SNC $212.5 million Space Act Agreement for the NASA Commercial Crew Integrated Capability Program. This effort leverages the extensive Lockheed Martin experience in building composite structures for spacecraft and high performance aircraft. With the addition of Lockheed Martin as a partner on the Dream Chaser program, SNC is now working with partner organizations in over 15 states on NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability program.
"We are pleased to include Lockheed Martin as part of the Dream Chaser Team to develop early certification products and to build critical flight hardware. Their recent human spacecraft certification experience and composite expertise make them a great addition to our program," said Jim Voss, vice president of Space Exploration Systems and Dream Chaser program manager.
The SNC and Lockheed Martin partnership represents the best of entrepreneurial spirit and established space mission success, collaborating on vehicle development, certification and reaching additional customer markets for the Dream Chaser orbital vehicle. The team looks forward to working with NASA to successfully execute on the first round of the CPC contract and move towards offering the Dream Chaser Space System as a commercial solution to crew and cargo servicing of the International Space Station.
Robert Pearlman
NASA release
Sierra Nevada Corporation Dream Chaser Testing Begins at NASA Dryden, Langley
Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Wednesday to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems.
The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies' development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil. The overall goal of CCP is to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective U.S. human access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit.
Above: The flatbed truck and trailer that transported Sierra Nevada Corporation, or SNC, Space Systems' Dream Chaser engineering test article pauses behind Hangar 4802 on the aircraft ramp at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., upon arrival at the center. (Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida)
Tests at Dryden will include tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests of the Dream Chaser. A truck will tow the craft down a runway to validate performance of the nose strut, brakes and tires. The captive-carry flights will further examine the loads it will encounter during flight as it is carried by an Erickson Skycrane helicopter. The free flight later this year will test Dream Chaser's aerodynamics through landing.
Meanwhile, on the east coast, several NASA astronauts will be at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., this week to fly simulations of a Dream Chaser approach and landing to help evaluate the spacecraft's subsonic handling. The test will measure how well the spacecraft would handle in a number of different atmospheric conditions and assess its guidance and navigation performance.
"Unique public-private partnerships like the one between NASA and Sierra Nevada Corporation are creating an industry capable of building the next generation of rockets and spacecraft that will carry U.S. astronauts to the scientific proving ground of low-Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations in Washington. "NASA centers around the country paved the way for 50 years of American human spaceflight, and they're actively working with our partners to test innovative commercial space systems that will continue to ensure American leadership in exploration and discovery."
Above: Bruce Jackson, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Langley Flight Research Center, briefs astronauts Rex Walheim and Gregory Johnson as they evaluate Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser landing simulation, in support of NASA Commercial Crew Program efforts, Wednesday, May 15. (Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman)
The Dream Chaser Space System is based on Langley's Horizontal Lander HL-20 lifting body design concept. The design builds on years of analysis and wind tunnel testing by Langley engineers during the 1980s and 1990s. Langley and SNC joined forces six years ago to update the HL-20 design in the Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle. In those years SNC has worked with the center to refine the spacecraft design. SNC will continue to test models in Langley wind tunnels. Langley researchers also helped develop a cockpit simulator at SNC's facility in Louisville, Colo., and the flight simulations being assessed at the center.
Robert Pearlman
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center release
SNC Dream Chaser unveiled to media at Dryden event
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden visited the space agency's Dryden Flight Research Center on May 22, taking the opportunity to see the Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Dream Chaser test vehicle that had arrived at the center a week earlier.
Bolden, SNC's Director of Flight Operations and former NASA astronaut Steve Lindsey and Patrick Stoliker, deputy director of NASA Dryden, outlined the coming ground and flight tests for the Dream Chaser to news media representatives gathered in a hangar at the NASA field center.
Above: Steve Lindsey, Sierra Nevada Corporation, or SNC, director of flight operations and former space shuttle astronaut, talks to the media about the development work Sierra Nevada Corporation, or SNC, will perform in collaboration with NASA's Commercial Crew Program, or CCP, with its Dream Chaser flight test vehicle at the agency's Dryden Flight Research Center in the coming months. At left is NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. At right is Dryden Flight Research Deputy Center Director Patrick Stoliker. (Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida)
SNC is preparing the vehicle for tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests later this year. The testing is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) initiatives to develop safe, reliable and cost-effective access to and from the International Space Station and low-Earth orbit. It is one of three spacecraft being developed for that role under the CCP program, the others being Boeing's CST-100 capsule and a crewed version of Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) Dragon capsule. The Dream Chaser is the only one designed to make a soft airplane-style landing on a runway, similar to landings of the now-retired space shuttles.
The Dream Chaser Space System is based on NASA's "Horizontal Lander" HL-20 lifting body design concept. The upcoming flight tests will provide data on the spacecraft's aerodynamic performance during subsonic approach and landing on a traditional runway. The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with CCP, which is facilitating commercial, U.S.-led development of spacecraft and rockets that can launch from American soil.
Above: Plastic wrapping that protected the Sierra Nevada Corporation, or SNC, Dream Chaser flight test vehicle during its transport from Colorado is carefully removed by SNC employee Will Armijo following the craft's arrival at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California. (Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida)
While at Dryden, Bolden also met with SNC's ground and flight-test staff, flew approach-and-landing simulations for the Dream Chaser, addressed an employee town hall and was briefed by center management on current programs, projects and operations at the center.
Robert Pearlman
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) release
Sierra Nevada Corporation Begins Dream Chaser Main Hybrid Rocket Motor Testing
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces the successful start of the latest phase of hybrid rocket motor qualification testing for the Dream Chaser flight vehicle. SNC completed two tests this week at its rocket test facility in San Diego, Calif. A motor firing and ignition test was completed in preparation for upcoming motor tests under the current Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) award. SNC will conduct another series of hybrid motor firings to meet the next CCiCap contracted milestone beginning this summer.
After required modifications were completed, the test firing was conducted in order to validate Dream Chaser's motor test stand. This was after required modifications were completed and to ensure that SNC can move forward with the future heavy weight motor test series with minimal test stand risk. The Dream Chaser version of the hybrid rocket motor was last tested in 2010 under the Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDev1) Space Act Agreement during which SNC completed three successful test firings of a single hybrid motor in one day.
In addition to manufacturing these motors for Dream Chaser, SNC also manufactures the hybrid motors for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle which has undergone test firings on dozens of hybrid motors over the last two years. As announced in the SNC news release (April 29, 2013), SpaceShipTwo successfully completed its first powered flight test using SNC's hybrid motor to power the vehicle to an altitude of 55,000 feet and reaching Mach 1.2.
"We are eager to begin the next series of motor testing for Dream Chaser," said Mark Sirangelo corporate vice president and head of SNC's Space Systems. "With the successful qualification this week in San Diego and the success of the powered flight of SpaceShipTwo, we are even more confident that our hybrid motor technology is the safest and most reliable system for human transportation."
SNC's hybrid rocket systems offer a safe, high performing, and non-toxic alternative to solid and hydrazine liquid propulsion systems. As the rocket motor fuel is industrial rubber, there are no special handling or transportation requirements, which greatly reduces the lifecycle cost to customers.
See here for discussion of SNC's efforts to develop its Dream Chaser vehicle.
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