Sierra Nevada delays first Dream Chaser launch to ’22
Sierra Nevada officials revealed yesterday that they are delaying the first test flight of their Dream Chaser reusable cargo mini-shuttle from late 2021 to some unspecified time in 2022.
‘’COVID has definitely played a role” in that delay, said Steve Lindsey, senior vice president for strategy at SNC Space Systems. One example he gave involved structural testing of the spacecraft’s cargo module at a contractor’s facility in San Diego. COVID-related restrictions prevented SNC engineers from being on site at that facility to oversee the tests. SNC developed a workaround by using a mission control center it developed for Dream Chaser in Colorado so those engineers could remotely oversee those tests. “That worked great. Unfortunately, it took probably three or four times as long as it should have,” he said.
A related problem, he said, involves suppliers who have had to suspend operations because of COVID-19 outbreaks at their facilities. There have also been technical challenges with Dream Chaser, although he did not go into details about specific issues. [emphasis mine]
I underline the unspecified technical issues, because I suspect they might be the real issue. SpaceX has not been slowed in any significant way due to the Wuhan panic, even though it deals with NASA also. I would therefore not be surprised if they are using COVID-19 as a cover for other issues.
It is a new craft, and problems are expected. I’d just rather they didn’t hide it. It contributes to doubts about the company, which by the way has been much slower in its development than one should expect. NASA awarded this contract in January of 2016, with the first launch then planned for as early as October 2019. It is now 2020, and the launch is still now two years away.
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Sierra Nevada officials revealed yesterday that they are delaying the first test flight of their Dream Chaser reusable cargo mini-shuttle from late 2021 to some unspecified time in 2022.
‘’COVID has definitely played a role” in that delay, said Steve Lindsey, senior vice president for strategy at SNC Space Systems. One example he gave involved structural testing of the spacecraft’s cargo module at a contractor’s facility in San Diego. COVID-related restrictions prevented SNC engineers from being on site at that facility to oversee the tests. SNC developed a workaround by using a mission control center it developed for Dream Chaser in Colorado so those engineers could remotely oversee those tests. “That worked great. Unfortunately, it took probably three or four times as long as it should have,” he said.
A related problem, he said, involves suppliers who have had to suspend operations because of COVID-19 outbreaks at their facilities. There have also been technical challenges with Dream Chaser, although he did not go into details about specific issues. [emphasis mine]
I underline the unspecified technical issues, because I suspect they might be the real issue. SpaceX has not been slowed in any significant way due to the Wuhan panic, even though it deals with NASA also. I would therefore not be surprised if they are using COVID-19 as a cover for other issues.
It is a new craft, and problems are expected. I’d just rather they didn’t hide it. It contributes to doubts about the company, which by the way has been much slower in its development than one should expect. NASA awarded this contract in January of 2016, with the first launch then planned for as early as October 2019. It is now 2020, and the launch is still now two years away.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I’d highlight the “suppliers who had to shut down their operations” myself. SpaceX is highly integrated and not nearly as reliant on outside suppliers as almost all of their competitors. Also, SpaceX in general, and Musk in particular, took a lot of heat early for not shutting down. I bet most of their competitors, if they were even inclined to stay open, saw that and decided they didn’t want to step into the line of fire themselves.
That said, of course there are technical problems. There are always technical problems that cause delays. SpaceX has a culture that smashes them flat and moves on in days or weeks, and that’s almost unique in the industry where delays are usually measured in months or years.
Hopefully SpaceX is setting the new standard for advanced technology development and manufacturing companies, and not just in aerospace. But I wonder if the labor market can support more than a handful of SpaceXs. Perhaps the experienced engineers are too expensive and cannot adapt to Elon-time, and our universities aren’t producing the quality and quantity of young grads needed?
Ray Van Dune,
You are correct about the engineers coming out of schools. One thing I look for when hiring engineers is are they part of some engineering club (besides IEEE or ASME), or work on cars, or something outside of the classroom that is hands-on technology and competitive. You do Battlebots, or race cars, or Ham Radio, or doing a rocket competition in college? Those are the graduates you want working for you.
Sorry, got off topic with my previous post. That is weird that Sierra Nevada did not say what quarter of ’22. I remember reading that besides the commercial cargo loads to the ISS, they had scheduled another private payload for ’22. I guess the schedule has slipped on that one.
Covid is being used as an excuse.
The company I work for supplies all of the larger aerospace and military companies, both domestic and foreign.
We have not missed a single day of production.
All of our customers are quite happy with us.
I can see a few days of a shut down maybe even a month if government mandated, but seriously. There are things called overtime and weekends to make them up.
Your suppliers and customers are only as serious as you are.
Jay, Don’t forget model railroading.
Penn State – Altoona is offering a degree in Rail Transportation Engineering
https://altoona.psu.edu/academics/bachelors-degrees/rail-transportation-engineering
and the engineering faculty is working with the Norfolk Southern Shops in Altoona on several joint projects
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altoona_Works