Sierra Space says first Dream Chaser will be ready for launch by December
In a presentation at an investor conference on June 27, 2023, a Sierra Space official provided an update on the status of its first Dream Chaser reusable mini-shuttle, dubbed Tenacity, stating that they expect it to be ready for launch by December, with the main question whether its ULA Vulcan launch rocket will also be ready.
The launch is supposed to be the second for Vulcan, but the first launch was just delayed for an undetermined amount of time so ULA can make modifications to the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. Once Tenacity is flying Sierra has a contract with NASA for seven cargo flights to ISS, with plans beyond.
The company is also working on a second version that can carry both crew and cargo. Vice said that version will have 40% greater cargo capacity than the first version and can support a six-person crew.
The ability of Dream Chaser to glide back to Earth in a runway landing, rather than splash down in the ocean, is a key selling point to customers, he argued. “We just think that landing at runways around the world is a huge differentiator: low-g landing back on a runway for both time-critical cargo and science, but also just the way people are going to want to fly back and land.”
The official also indicated that this human-rated version is being designed to work with the private Orbital Reef space station that Sierra Space is building in partnership with other companies. The company also said it is planning its own free flying version of its Orbital Reef LIFE module that the company hopes to launch by the end of 2026, ahead of Orbital Reef. If so, that would make this the sixth independent private space station planned by American companies.
Because much of this presentation was designed to impress potential investors, we should take it with a touch of skepticism. Nonetheless, that the company is considering launching its own station, independent of the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef station, suggests it has its own doubts about whether that project will ever take off as planned, and has thus decided to make its own contingency plans.
Hat tip to Jay, BtB’s stringer.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
In a presentation at an investor conference on June 27, 2023, a Sierra Space official provided an update on the status of its first Dream Chaser reusable mini-shuttle, dubbed Tenacity, stating that they expect it to be ready for launch by December, with the main question whether its ULA Vulcan launch rocket will also be ready.
The launch is supposed to be the second for Vulcan, but the first launch was just delayed for an undetermined amount of time so ULA can make modifications to the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. Once Tenacity is flying Sierra has a contract with NASA for seven cargo flights to ISS, with plans beyond.
The company is also working on a second version that can carry both crew and cargo. Vice said that version will have 40% greater cargo capacity than the first version and can support a six-person crew.
The ability of Dream Chaser to glide back to Earth in a runway landing, rather than splash down in the ocean, is a key selling point to customers, he argued. “We just think that landing at runways around the world is a huge differentiator: low-g landing back on a runway for both time-critical cargo and science, but also just the way people are going to want to fly back and land.”
The official also indicated that this human-rated version is being designed to work with the private Orbital Reef space station that Sierra Space is building in partnership with other companies. The company also said it is planning its own free flying version of its Orbital Reef LIFE module that the company hopes to launch by the end of 2026, ahead of Orbital Reef. If so, that would make this the sixth independent private space station planned by American companies.
Because much of this presentation was designed to impress potential investors, we should take it with a touch of skepticism. Nonetheless, that the company is considering launching its own station, independent of the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef station, suggests it has its own doubts about whether that project will ever take off as planned, and has thus decided to make its own contingency plans.
Hat tip to Jay, BtB’s stringer.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Well, from all my reading on rocket launches, December 2023 in space talk is “Hopefully sometime in 2024”
It is true that the sea can be a dangerous place and also costly to control.
But powered vertical landing is getting so routine it may end up being the most common, or Vostok style for ultimate thrill seekers.
I would like to see this craft in full production and making daily flights to and from any and all space stations.
But the great ability to land at any good long runway is perfect for emergency landings but the fact is that they will still mainly and possibly ONLY land next to their launch point. No use trucking it around the state when you can just tow it across the tarmac.
If it can make a dozen orbits before hitting the atmosphere then it can always land back at its launch point.
These will be good for escape pods for space stations.
Unless they do not have enough fuel and get thrown out into space instead of to the Earth.
Dream Chaser sounds like interesting name. What can we Launch the Botany Bay with the UN and other Globalists Suspended Animation?
If they can get their LIFE “pathfinder” space station in orbit in four years, that would be pretty good. It would be one of the earliest commercial space stations. They may not have their manned Dream Chaser ready by then, but Dragon and Starliner should be available for the first crew missions on board. If the LIFE module can operate alone, without the rest of the Orbital Reef assembly, then there should be a certain amount of redundancy in the commercial space station industry. SpaceX may not have to sacrifice one of its Starships in order to assure we have a commercial space station industry.
The cargo Dream Chaser should have advantages in that its return cargo should be able to be recovered almost immediately at a runway where material or returning experiments can be swiftly flown to their final destinations on Earth. I think the manned version of Dream Chaser will also be desirable, and I can hardly wait for them to begin flying.