Sierra Area
There may be nonetheless some work to do to organize Sierra Area’s Dream Chaser spaceplane for its first mission, however the firm says the winged resupply craft for the Worldwide Area Station will quickly ship to its launch website in Florida.
The Dream Chaser will take off on high of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket to go for the area station. A spokesperson for Sierra Area instructed Ars the spaceplane’s launch is scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of this yr.
However Sierra Area will transport the Dream Chaser to NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle in Florida with a to-do record. There are two extra vital exams the spacecraft should full on the launch website. Technicians should additionally end work on Dream Chaser’s warmth defend earlier than it is able to go on high of its Vulcan launcher. It is unclear how lengthy these actions will take to finish.
Nonetheless, the spaceplane is about to depart NASA’s Neil Armstrong Take a look at Facility in Ohio, the place it has undergone environmental testing since December. Sierra Area carried out the exams in Ohio in a number of phases.
First, Sierra Area engineers carried out shock exams with ULA to test the spacecraft’s response to the jolt of separation from the Vulcan rocket in orbit. Then, floor groups stacked the Dream Chaser spaceplane on high of its rear-mounted pressurized cargo module and positioned the complete automobile on a shaker desk to simulate the vibrations the spacecraft will expertise throughout launch.
Sierra Area subsequent carried out one other shock check utilizing the separation system that can jettison the disposable cargo module from the reusable spaceplane earlier than reentry and touchdown on the finish of its mission. Lastly, engineers transferred Dream Chaser to a thermal vacuum chamber on the Ohio check facility, the place, for 5 weeks, the spacecraft was subjected to the airless atmosphere and the acute temperature swings of low-Earth orbit.
“Profitable completion of an extremely rigorous environmental testing marketing campaign in shut partnership with NASA is a major milestone and places Dream Chaser on monitor for operations later this yr,” stated Tom Vice, Sierra Area’s CEO. “That is the yr that we transition from rigorous analysis and growth to common orbital operations and—in doing so—rework the best way we join area and Earth.”
Sierra Area’s to-do record
Dream Chaser has been in growth for greater than 15 years, and the idea goes again additional than that. NASA kick-started the present iteration of the industrial spaceplane with the award of a industrial cargo contract to Sierra Nevada, Sierra Area’s dad or mum firm, in 2016.
This would be the first of seven resupply missions Dream Chaser will fly to the Worldwide Area Station underneath the NASA contract. The corporate is constructing a second reusable spaceplane to assist meet its dedication to NASA and doubtlessly service follow-on industrial area stations.
Lastly, the end line for Dream Chaser is now in sight. Final yr, the primary spaceplane, named Tenacity, left Sierra Area’s manufacturing facility close to Denver for the journey to the Armstrong Take a look at Facility in Ohio. Ars visited Sierra Area’s manufacturing facility to see Dream Chaser just a few weeks earlier than its departure. The spacecraft was largely completed, however technicians continued to outfit the inside pressurized compartment of the spaceplane and add tiles for its warmth defend.
