posted 03-17-2015 03:27 PM               

Please use this topic to discuss Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser for commercial cargo resupply services.

posted 01-14-2016 10:14 PM               

Still on for Atlas V launch, dependent on NASA CRS-2 award that will set dates and more. Stay tuned!

posted 01-15-2016 03:47 PM               

Dream Chaser development will follow the example of Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-1. All the testing and certifications will happen on the ground and within the atmosphere, the first Dream Chaser launch will be an operational mission for NASA under the CRS-2 contract to the ISS. SNC will benefit from 135 shuttle flights and modern testing techniques to ready Dream Chaser for that first mission, and the company says Dream Chaser will be ready for that flight atop a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. in the first half of 2019.

NASA does not require a first orbital flight test for the Dream Chaser cargo version before its first operational CRS-2 flight.

posted 01-17-2016 12:09 PM               

In 2015, together with OHB System AG, the company completed the initial Dream Chaser for European Utilization study co-funded by the Space Administration of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and OHB.

posted 01-25-2016 08:13 AM               

...ESA will begin work building the first flight model of the International Berthing and Docking Mechanism (IBDM), which Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Cargo System will use to attach itself to the space station.

ESA said it would spend 33 million euros ($36 million) to complete the design of the IBDM and build a flight model for Dream Chaser's first cargo run. Future IBDMs will be financed by Sierra Nevada, ESA said.

posted 04-01-2016 09:03 AM               

"There was a leap of faith on the Huntsville side that we would be a company that could get this vehicle built and start servicing the space station...," Sierra Nevada Vice President John Roth said Thursday. "Yes, we have been approached by other airports for ventures. We're not moving forward at this time with any of those. Right now, Huntsville is the only community we're moving forward with a (landing) license on."

A preliminary local study identified four hurdles to landing Dream Chaser at the Huntsville International Airport: required licenses for the craft and airport, environmental impact approval, Federal Aviation Administration approval of the landing path and possible runway damage.

"We've found nothing that would indicate those items are not satisfactory for going forward," Huntsville International Airport Director of Operations Kevin Vandeberg said.

posted 08-30-2017 11:29 AM               

Thanks for watching our Facebook Live! More video of the Captive Carry event to come.

posted 11-11-2017 08:24 PM               

SNC is proud to announce the Dream Chaser spacecraft had a successful free-flight test today at Edwards Air Force Base, with support of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. The Dream Chaser had a beautiful flight and landing!

On Monday, SNC will share more information, photos and video from today's Dream Chaser free-flight test at Edwards Air Force Base.

posted 04-18-2018 04:01 PM               

SNC announced a contract with ULA in July 2017 that covered two Dream Chaser launches, in 2020 and 2021. Both would use the Atlas 5 552, the largest version of the Atlas 5 with a five-meter payload fairing, five solid rocket boosters and a dual-engine Centaur upper stage.

However, Sirangelo said the company was looking at other options for launching the second and later Dream Chaser ISS cargo missions. "It's a quite interesting time in the launch business, where we see all the major launch companies coming out with a new launch system," he said. "We are looking at all of the launch systems."

...he noted that there are no requirements under its NASA contract that require those cargo missions to fly on U.S. vehicles, citing NASA's use of European and Japanese cargo vehicles to resupply the ISS. "We think it's certainly feasible," he said, adding that there was interest in launching Dream Chaser on vehicles outside the U.S.

posted 05-09-2018 10:52 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by damnyankee36:
Aside from whatever reasons NASA thumbed down the crew version I think it's a cool little hotrod!

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posted 10-01-2018 11:58 AM               

Our full-scale pressurized Dream Chaser spacecraft mockup has arrived at our Louisville, Colorado facility! Our engineers are using this mockup to practice loading and unloading cargo into the vehicle in a variety of different ways including late loads on the launch pad.

posted 04-08-2019 03:18 PM               

SNC's Dream Chaser spacecraft looks a little different these days. We now have more white Thermal Protection System tiles than black. Aside from protecting Dream Chaser against high re-entry temps, they'll protect against an impact from space junk moving faster than 20,000 mph.

The materials that make up Dream Chaser spacecraft's Thermal Protection System tiles can survive temperatures up to 3,200F while maintaining the underlying structure temperature below 350F, protecting the spacecraft from re-entry heat.

posted 08-14-2019 07:56 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by oly:
...miss an opportunity to launch using a reusable first stage rocket.

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However, I'll play the devil's advocate here, and try and see SNC's decision through their eyes. First off, they already had a deal with the Atlas V, and the Vulcan is the successor to the Atlas V. Second, in theory, the Vulcan is partially renewable.

posted 08-15-2019 12:14 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by SkyMan1958:
SNC is competing with SpaceX in the CRS sphere, so they probably don't want to pump any more money into SpaceX.

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I would think both SpaceX, Blue Origin, or others, would want opportunity to demonstrate their ability to cater to a wide variety of launch vehicles and payload types.

Vertical versus horizontal integration is one aspect of flying customers that any company would need to address should they wish to compete in a truly adaptive market. SNC would benefit from having a vehicle that can adapt easily to any LV, as would any launch provider benefit from having the ability to work with any customer.

SNC do not compete directly against any other CRS provider for launch vehicle capability. In this example they pull Vulcan into the party. If each CRS provider is gauged by their total freight payload to orbit capability, rather than the cost per launch in an ongoing manner, including the cost of reused rockets, the final cost varies greatly. Perhaps Vulcan launch services are given to SNC at a discounted rate to ensure their hat is kept in play. Avoiding pumping money into SpaceX, or any other provider, does not take the opponent out of the race, they are contracted flights. (The ISS may be retired before true competition per resupply flight comes into play.)

posted 06-11-2020 01:25 PM               

Inside the low bay of the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers assist as Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Dream Chaser pressure test article on its support structure is lowered by crane on June 3, 2020, for its move into the high bay.

The test article was shipped from Louisville, Colorado. It is similar to the actual pressurized cabin being used in the Dream Chaser spaceplane for Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) missions. The test article will remain at Kennedy while SNC engineers use it to develop and verify refurbishment operations that will be used on Dream Chaser between flights.

posted 03-25-2022 03:18 PM               

At a Goddard Memorial Symposium panel this morning [March 25], Sierra Space's Steve Lindsey says the first Dream Chaser cargo mission to the ISS is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2023. The vehicle's wings are on and testing is done; "really looking like a spacecraft now."

posted 05-02-2022 09:30 AM               

The vehicle's structure is now largely complete, but there is still more work to install its thermal protection system and other components.

"We have the wings on now. It really looks like a spaceplane," said Janet Kavandi, president of Sierra Space, during a panel at the AIAA ASCENDx Texas conference in Houston April 28, where she played a video showing work building the vehicle.

In a recent interview, Tom Vice, chief executive of Sierra Space, said the company had completed structural testing of the vehicle and was moving into final integration and testing. It should be ready to ship to NASA's Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, formerly known as Plum Brook Station, in August or September for four months of thermal vacuum testing.

"Then we ship it to the Kennedy Space Center for integration onto the Vulcan rocket," he said, with a launch tentatively planned for February. However, Kavandi said in her remarks at the AIAA conference that the launch was planned "about a year from now."