 Dream ChaserTenacity and its Shooting Star cargo module undergoing testing | |
| Names | Dream Chaser Demo-1 |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Flight test,ISS resupply |
| Operator | Sierra Nevada Corporation |
| Website | sierraspace |
| Mission duration | 45 days (planned)[1] |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Dream Chaser Tenacity |
| Spacecraft type | Dream Chaser |
| Manufacturer |
|
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | NET Q3 2025 |
| Rocket | Vulcan Centaur VC4L[a][2] |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral,SLC‑41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| End of mission | |
| Landing site | Kennedy,SLF Runway 15/33 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 51.6° |
| Berthing atISS | |
| Berthing port | Harmony nadir orUnity nadir |
CRS-1 → | |
SSC Demo-1, also known asDream Chaser Demo-1, is the planned first flight of theSierra Spacerobotic resupply spacecraftDream Chaser to theInternational Space Station (ISS) under theCRS-2 contract withNASA. The demonstration mission is planned for launch no earlier than the third quarter of 2025.
In April 2021 the Dream Chaser division of the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) was spun-off, creating the fully independentSierra Space Corporation (SSC), which assumed full oversight over the Dream Chaser program. The company developed a new reusable spacecraft to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS), based on decades of lifting body programs. Under theCommercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, the company designed Dream Chaser with industrial partnerLockheed Martin.
The company also designed the accompanying Shooting Star cargo module with subcontractor Applied Composites.[3] At the end of mission, the Shooting Star will destructively reenter the atmosphere and the Dream Chaser will land at the Kennedy Space Center'sShuttle Landing Facility.
TheDream Chaser Cargo System will fly cargo resupply missions to the ISS under NASA'sCommercial Resupply Services-2 program. This system features the Shooting Star, an expendable cargo module with solar panels, and the Dream Chaser, a reusable lifting body capable of returning 1,750 kg (3,860 lb) of pressurized cargo toEarth while undergoing maximum re-entry forces of 1.5 g.[4][5]
The Dream Chaser design is derived fromNASA'sHL-20 Personnel Launch Systemspaceplane concept from the 1990s, which in turn is descended from over 20,000 hours and six decades of experimentallifting body vehicles, including theX-20 Dyna-Soar,Northrop M2-F2,Northrop M2-F3,Northrop HL-10,Martin X-24A and X-24B, andMartin X-23 PRIME.[6][7][8][9]
The vehicle to be used in SSC Demo-1 is namedTenacity.[10][11] The Shooting Star carries pressurized and unpressurized cargo, and serves as the power supply for the Dream Chaser.[5] The Shooting Star will have a cargo capacity of 4,536 kg (10,000 lb). Its design is similar to theExoliner cargo container shown in Lockheed Martin'sJupiter proposal for NASA's CRS-2.
SSC Demo-1 is the Dream Chaser demonstration mission under theCommercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract withNASA. Production and integration of the Dream Chaser spacecraft is performed inTexas,Colorado, andFlorida. The Dream Chaser is mated with the Shooting Star at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Colorado andHouston,Texas. Sierra Nevada selected ULA'sVulcan Centaur as its launch vehicle for this Demo-1 mission and the six contracted NASA CRS-2 missions.[12][13][14]
The first flight of Sierra Space's Dream Chaser to the International Space Station is now scheduled for no earlier than May 2025 [...] will carry cargo to the orbiting laboratory and stay on board for approximately 45 days on its first mission.
Peregrine will fly on a VC2S, Dream Chaser will fly on a VC4L.
...The HL-20's baseline design has evolved from manned lifting bodies flown for the Defense Dept, during the 1960s and owes much of its overall layout to the Martin X-24A...
... The NASA lifting-body program has been well documented in about 100 technical reports on the program's 222 flights and 20,000 hours of wind-tunnel tests. Many of these publications are unclassified. The Soviet Union purchased copies of these reports from NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., then designed its own lifting body. In 1982, the Soviets flight-tested an unpiloted, 10-foot-long, subscale version of their lifting body, the BOR-4, including a maneuvering re-entry over theIndian Ocean from space orbit. The flight test of the BOR-4 closely resembled that of our PRIME (X-23) vehicle in 1966...
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.... A mock-up of the proposed "space taxi", called the HL-20 Personnel Launch System, closely resembles a Soviet subscale spaceplane flown on four orbital missions in the 1980s... However, Piland, chief of the space systems division at the Langley Research Center, was quick to point out the Soviet test vehicle seems to have evolved from U. S. lifting-body configurations flown from 1966 to 1975 — such as Northrop's HL-10, M2-F2 and M2-F3 and Martin's X-24A and X-24B...
... The lifting-body program came to an official end in 1975. Yet like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the concept has appeared several times since then in proposed NASA spacecraft. When the Langley Research Center revealed its HL-20 design for an emergency crew return vehicle or small mini-Shuttle in 1990, the shape was remarkably similar to the HL-10 and X-24A designs...
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
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