Sierra Area
There’s nonetheless some work to do to arrange 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 web site in Florida.
The Dream Chaser will take off on high of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket to go for the house station. A spokesperson for Sierra Area instructed Ars the spaceplane’s launch is scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of this 12 months.
However Sierra Area will transport the Dream Chaser to NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle in Florida with a to-do checklist. There are two extra vital checks the spacecraft should full on the launch web site. Technicians should additionally end work on Dream Chaser’s warmth protect 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 checks in Ohio in a number of phases.
First, Sierra Area engineers carried out shock checks 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 your entire 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 may 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 surroundings and the intense temperature swings of low-Earth orbit.
“Profitable completion of an extremely rigorous environmental testing marketing campaign in shut partnership with NASA is a big milestone and places Dream Chaser on observe for operations later this 12 months,” mentioned Tom Vice, Sierra Area’s CEO. “That is the 12 months that we transition from rigorous analysis and growth to common orbital operations and—in doing so—remodel the best way we join house and Earth.”
Sierra Area’s to-do checklist
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 business spaceplane with the award of a business cargo contract to Sierra Nevada, Sierra Area’s father or mother firm, in 2016.
This would be the first of seven resupply missions Dream Chaser will fly to the Worldwide Area Station beneath the NASA contract. The corporate is constructing a second reusable spaceplane to assist meet its dedication to NASA and probably service follow-on business house stations.
Lastly, the end line for Dream Chaser is now in sight. Final 12 months, 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 a number of 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 protect.
