The Dream Chaser Spaceplane Continues To Make Progress
Right now the space industry is filled with a large number of companies all working on new and ambitious ways to access space. This works towards the greater goal of increasing our access by lowering costs and speeding up the process, just to name a few. Sierra Space is no exception with the work and development of Dream Chaser, a spaceplane of the future.
Over the past few months especially the company has been very busy as they work on their first Dream Chaser spaceplane. This involves a large host of tests among other things. All of which is in addition to more partnerships and deals meant to make the project a reality in the near future. An example could be a recent agreement that revolves around future landing sights for the spaceplane.
This feature is one of the most unique that Dream Chaser has to offer and is very important for the overall goal of the company. This comes in addition to more work on the spaceplane itself and more. Here I will go more in-depth into some of the recent progress on Dream Chaser, important partnerships, and what to expect in the coming months.
Recent Updates
Some of the most significant information came towards the beginning of the month. On June 10th, Sierra Space tweeted saying, “In case you missed it, our first Dream Chaser spaceplane recently completed static and pressure testing in Colorado and will soon be ready for shipment to @NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility (Plum Brook Station) later this year. This provided some valuable information on the spaceplane’s current progress and what its testing schedule looks like. It also included a video that was released in prior months of the test article undergoing aeroshell and wing deployment system installation. The next big update came 11 days later on the 21st of June when the company tweeted mentioning, “Sierra Space and @Spaceport_NM announced today the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement adds the world-class NM spaceport to a portfolio of potential global landing sites for the Dream Chaser spaceplane. This agreement is quite a big deal considering the fact that Dream Chaser’s ability to land at different sites around the globe is one of the features that makes it so special. This being said, they need to have legal access to all these locations.
More specifically, the agreement adds the New Mexico spaceport to Sierra Space’s portfolio of potential global landing sites for its Dream Chaser spaceplane. Spaceport America, located in southern New Mexico, is the most recent addition to a growing list of compatible runways worldwide where the Dream Chaser could land, including the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and airports and landing sites in Huntsville, Alabama, Oita Airport, Japan, and Spaceport Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The more options future Dream Chasers have, the more capable and convenient they are as well. Soon after the announcement, Sierra Space CEO, Tom Vice, pointed out, “Sierra Space is building the future of space – from transportation, to commercial space destinations and all of the emerging applications – to develop a vibrant, growing, and accessible commercial space economy”. “With that vision in mind, we are creating space-tech hubs within the commercial space ecosystem and adding Spaceport America as a prospective landing site for Dream Chaser to continue to open up affordable access to space for all.”
Dream Chaser
Now that we know more about some of the recent progress surrounding Dream Chaser, we can take a closer look at some important upcoming dates, more on the recent landing site deal, and the spaceplane itself. Dream Chaser is a multi-mission space utility vehicle designed for transporting crew and cargo to and from LEO destinations, including the International Space Station. The spaceplane is currently under contract with NASA for seven commercial resupply missions to the ISS providing cargo delivery, return, and waste disposal services. Sierra Space points out that it is the only commercial spacecraft capable of low-g earth return to compatible commercial runways worldwide, allowing immediate access to high value payloads. Dream Chaser is set to launch in 2023. This launch will be a big deal as you can imagine and show off the capabilities of the spaceplane. This upcoming launch also means the company is very busy preparing Tenacity for the launch. In the coming weeks and months, we should expect to see even more updates from the company on its progress.
Taking a closer look at the recent deal, the new MOU outlines the two organizations’ mutual pursuit to increase Spaceport America’s capabilities and demand for Dream Chaser reentry at the spaceport. As a result, in line with their shared vision, both parties will pursue a Part 433 reentry site operator’s license for Spaceport America from the Federal Aviation Administration. Dream Chaser is currently under contract to perform cargo supply and return missions for NASA starting in 2023, delivering up to 12,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station at a time. “Spaceport America is enormously proud to combine efforts with Sierra Space,” added Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of Spaceport America. “As a potential landing site for the Dream Chaser spaceplane, we will continue to open affordable access to space for all in the United States and the world. We are excited to expand the partnership and working relationship with Sierra Space. This MOU also helps highlight the vision for Spaceport America and to help connect other users of both the spaceport and the Dream Chaser to New Mexico.”
In terms of the spaceplane itself, it features two main configurations, crewed, and uncrewed. Starting with the uncrewed variant, which is the one responsible for the upcoming cargo missions with NASA. With the help of the Shooting Star service module, Dream Chaser can deliver up to 5,500 kg of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the space station, including food, water, supplies, and science experiments, and returns to Earth. Dream Chaser can return critical cargo at less than 1.5 g’s using a gentle runway landing. In addition, designed for high reusability, this vehicle is attempting to reduce overall cost, helping provide quick turnarounds between missions. This spaceplane is not an actual rocket meaning it has no first stage to get it off Earth and into orbit. This presents some downsides but also provides the ability to liftoff on top of multiple launch vehicles and land at a wide variety of runways. After leaving the space station, the Dream Chaser Cargo System also offers disposal services via the Shooting Star transport vehicle. Once separated from Dream Chaser, Shooting Star burns up safely in Earth’s atmosphere.
Next is the crewed variant. Dream Chaser was originally designed as a crewed spaceplane, in part under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to and from the space station and other low Earth orbit (LEO) destinations. Dream Chaser is 30 feet, or 9 meters long—roughly 1 fourth the total length of the space shuttle orbiters—and can carry up to seven crew members. The crewed version of Dream Chaser is approximately 85% common to the cargo system, limiting primary changes to windows, environmental control and life support systems. In addition, an integral main propulsion system is available for abort capability and major orbital maneuvers. Looking at multi mission solutions, the Dream Chaser spaceplane is intended to be capable of supporting a variety of LEO needs. It can be customized for both domestic and international customers via vehicle configuration, launch site, destination, landing site, duration, and a host of other variables. Sierra Space has entered into agreements with multiple international space agencies. Together they are developing technologies, applications, and missions for Dream Chaser-based space systems.
On 25 October 2021, Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Sierra Space subsidiary for commercial space activities and space tourism, released their plan for a commercial space station. The station, called Orbital Reef, is intended as a “mixed-use business park”. Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser was chosen as one of the commercial spacecraft to transport commercial crew to and from the space station, along with Boeing’s Starliner. This project is a combination of many different companies and agencies working on a single goal. This being said, there is still a lot of work needed including getting launch systems like Dream Chaser up and running. The upcoming first orbital test flight will be a big deal for both the future of the spaceplane, Orbital Reef, and more.
Conclusion
Over the past few years, Sierra Space has been hard at work developing and creating the Dream Chaser spaceplane. In recent months especially, the company has been putting time into Tenacity, the complete vehicle expected to launch not long from now in 2023. In addition, the company is also continuing to work with spaceports across the globe to create a portfolio of options to land in the future. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.