Sierra Nevada introduces its cargo version of Dream Chaser
The competition heats up: Sierra Nevada has unveiled a revised cargo version of Dream Chaser, competing for NASA next round of freighter contracts to ISS.
They have made a number of changes, but the most significant is the new folding wings, allowing the spacecraft to fit inside the fairings of most rocket systems. This also eliminates one of the concerns I have read about the previous design on whether its wings could have withstood exposure to the maximum atmospheric stresses experienced during launch.
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The competition heats up: Sierra Nevada has unveiled a revised cargo version of Dream Chaser, competing for NASA next round of freighter contracts to ISS.
They have made a number of changes, but the most significant is the new folding wings, allowing the spacecraft to fit inside the fairings of most rocket systems. This also eliminates one of the concerns I have read about the previous design on whether its wings could have withstood exposure to the maximum atmospheric stresses experienced during launch.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
I wish the best for all commercial companies working hard to make a living while opening up space for all the eager customers (me, for one).
However, I’ve got to say that DC isn’t terribly impressive, given that it’s design seems to magically change for each vaguely possible role it might fill. If we imagine that these enthusiastic press releases have a basis in reality, then that means that the existing design of DC isn’t actually real, because if it were, then changing to folding wings, or scaling down 50% would not be very easy/cheap/feasible AT ALL.
Fred wrote, “I’ve got to say that DC isn’t terribly impressive, given that it’s design seems to magically change for each vaguely possible role it might fill.”
These different roles each have different requirements. It is much easier to modify an existing design for different purposes than it is to restart from scratch. SpaceX chose to modify its existing Dragon cargo ship in order to add human crews, because it is easier than starting over. The Boeing 747 is a good example, as they have made six major variations to cover different customer needs.
Boeing learned in the early days of the jet age that satisfying the customer’s needs is worth modifying a design. Doing so can make a company; not doing so can break a company. Read the article in this posting:
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/the-707-turns-60/
“They wanted it wider. 4.5 inches wider. They wanted it to be 148.5 inches wide – wider even than the DC-8. This was gut check time. Everything that followed, all of Boeing’s commercial business over the next half-century hung in the balance.”