2023-06-06 14:09:38
In a few months, the space landscape should have a new vehicle with the Dream Chaser from Sierra Space, whose first flight is scheduled for the end of the year. This vehicle, which looks like an airplane, and will really be one in its manned version, benefits from several NASA contracts to supply the International Space Station. In the near future, it will also be used to service the Orbital Reef space station.
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In 2016, as part of the Commercial Resupply Service 2 (CRS-2), la NasaNasa awarded several International Space Station (ISS) resupply contracts. Unsurprisingly, it had selected Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus module, the Dragon capsule SpaceXSpaceX, which was already in service under previous contracts, and a newcomer: the Dream Chaser from Sierra Space. This new space vehicle comes in the form of an airplane, which is very different from other vehicles which are either a capsule or cylindrical modules.
The first mission of this new space vehicle is scheduled for the year 2023. The Dream Chaser should therefore become the fifth supply vehicle for the ISS, alongside Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, SpaceX’s Dragon, Russian Progress and HTVHTV Japanese.
A final series of tests before the launch at the end of 2023
A few days ago, Tom Vice, General Manager of Sierra Space, gave an update on his avion spatialavion spatialemphasizing that the vehicle “ must still perform a final series of thermal vacuum tests before being shipped to Cape Canaveral from where it will be prepared for launch “. This launch is planned for the end of the year. Flight date will be announced later. It will depend not only on the state of preparation of the Dream Chaser, the manifesto of the missions bound for the Space Station, but also on the availability of the Vulcan launcher of the United Launch Alliance, whose entry into service is scheduled for this summer with the launch of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar mission. The flight of the Dream Chaser is scheduled on the second launch of the Vulcan. Note that in 2017 it was planned to use Ariane 6 to launch the Dream Chaser. An idea quickly abandoned, but not as absurd as it seemed.
In the meantime, astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, of Nasa, and Satoshi Furukawa, of Jaxa – who are assigned to the Crew-7 mission, scheduled to launch to the station as early as mid-August, where they will remain until February 2024 – are preparing for the commissioning of the Dream Chaser. They train and test cargo transfer procedures between the space vehicle and the ISS.
A manned version under study
Sierra Space plans to develop a manned version of its space plane. This future vehicle will be used to serve the Orbital Reef space station that Sierra Space is developing in partnership with Blue Origin and several other companies, but not only. In preparation for these future manned flightsmanned flightsSierra Space plans to form its own corps of professional astronauts, with an initial class that might number 12 to 15 people.
Among the possible developments, Sierra Space is working on a modular cargo module called ” Shooting Star » that can be attached to the Dream Chaser to increase its carrying capacity. The company is also developing a three-level inflatable habitation module called ” Large Inflatable Fabric Environment » (LIFE) for use in orbitorbit or on the lunar and martian surfaces.
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