Dream Chaser

Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft
CG rendering of DreamChaser docked at ISS
Description
Role:	Under development to be used to supply the International Space Station after Space Shuttle retirement
Crew:	Up to 7[1][2][3]
Dimensions[4]
Height:	?? m	?? ft
Length:	9.00 m	29.50 ft
Wing Span:	7.00 m	22.90 ft
Volume:	16.00 m3	565 cu ft
Mass:	11,340 kg	25,000 lb[5]
Payload:	?? kg	?? lb
Performance
Endurance:	At least 210 days[6]
Re-entry:	Less than 1.5 g's[5]

The Dream Chaser is a crewed suborbital and orbital^[7] vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) lifting-body spaceplane being developed by SpaceDev, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC). The Dream Chaser design is planned to carry seven people to and from low earth orbit. The vehicle would launch vertically on an Atlas V and land horizontally on conventional runways.^[2]

Design

DreamChaser is composite spacecraft designed to carry from two to seven people and/or cargo to orbital destinations such as the International Space Station^[8] It will have a built-in launch escape system and can fly autonomously if needed to.^[5] It can use any suitable launch vehicle but is planned to be launched on a man-rated Atlas V 402 rocket.^[5][9]The vehicle will be able to return from space by gliding (typically experiencing less than 1.5 g on re-entry) and landing on any airport runway that handles commercial air traffic.^[10] Its reaction control system thrusters burn ethanol, since it is not an explosively volatile material, allows the DreamChaser to be handled immediately after landing, unlike the Space Shuttle.^[5] Its thermal protection system (TPS) is an ablative tile created by NASA's Ames center that would be replaced as a large group rather than tile by tile, and would only need to be replaced after several flights.^[5]

History

Rendering of Dream Chaser on top of an Atlas V

The Dream Chaser was originally planned in 2004 to be a suborbital vehicle modeled after the X-34. The design was revised in 2005 and is now based on NASA's HL-20 lifting body design.^[11]

The Dream Chaser was publicly announced on September 20, 2004^[12] as candidate for NASA's Vision for Space Exploration and later Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Program (COTS).

When the Dream Chaser was not selected under Phase 1 of the COTS Program, SpaceDev founder Jim Benson stepped down^[13] as Chairman of SpaceDev and started Benson Space Company to pursue the development of the Dream Chaser. In April 2007, SpaceDev announced that it had partnered with the United Launch Alliance to pursue the possibility of utilizing the Atlas V booster rocket as the Dream Chaser's launch vehicle.^{[14][dead link]} In June of 2011, SpaceDev signed a Space Act agreement with NASA.^[15] In August 2011, ULA announced that the Atlas V would be used to launch the Dream Chaser spaceplane.^[16]

SpaceDev was acquired by Sierra Nevada Corporation in December 2008.^[17] On February 1, 2010, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded^[18][19] $20 million in seed money under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) phase 1 program for the development of the Dream Chaser. Of the $50 million awarded by the CCDev program, Dream Chaser's award represented the largest share of the funds.

For the CCDev phase 2 solicitation by NASA in October 2010, Sierra Nevada proposed extensions of Dream Chaser spaceplane technology.^[20] Similar to the Orbital Sciences phase 2 proposal, the Dream Chaser is also a lifting body design.^[21] Sierra Nevada will utilize Virgin Galactic to market Dream Chaser commercial services and will also use "Virgin’s WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft as a platform for drop trials of the Dream Chaser atmospheric test vehicle" in 2012.^[20][22][8] According to head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems Mark Sirangelo,^[23] the cost of completing the Dream Chaser should be less than $1 billion.^[24] On April 18, 2011, NASA awarded nearly $270 million in funding For CCDev 2, including $80 million to Sierra Nevada for Dream Chaser.^[25]

Development progress

The primary structure of the Dream Chaser spacecraft undergoing testing at the University of Colorado

On October 11, 2010 SNC announced it had achieved two critical milestones for NASA's CCDev program. The first consisted of three successful test firings of a single hybrid rocket motor in one day. The second milestone was the completion of the primary tooling necessary to build the composite structure of the Dream Chaser vehicle.^[26][27]

As of October 2011, Sierra Nevada Corp have completed four of the 13 of the milestones set out ion the CCDev Agreement.^[28] The most recent milestones accomplished include: a System Requirements Review, a new cockpit simulator, finalising the tip fin airfoil design and most recently,^[29] an Vehicle Avionics Integration Laboratory (VAIL), which will be used to test Dream Chaser computers and electronics in simulated space mission scenarios.^[30]

Technology partners

The following organisations have been named as technology partners:^[10]

• Boeing Phantom Works - construction of test articles
• Charles Stark Draper Laboratory - Guidance, Navigation and Control
• Aerojet - reaction control system technology
• University of Colorado - human-rating
• AdamWorks - composites
• MDA - systems engineering
• Hamilton Sundstrand and Orbitec - life support systems

See also

• other Human-carrying spacecraft vehicles
  • CST-100 – a spacecraft being developed by Boeing, in collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace
  • SpaceX Dragon - a spacecraft being developed by SpaceX
  • As-yet-unnamed "biconic nose cone design orbital vehicle" being developed by by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin... not to be confused with the Blue Origin New Shepard "vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL), suborbital manned rocket" also being developed by Blue Origin
  • Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle – a spacecraft which is being designed by Lockheed Martin for NASA
  • Prometheus (spacecraft) - another HL-20 derived proposed spacecraft put forward by Orbital Sciences Corporation
  • Orion Lite - a likely canceled privately-developed vehicle by Bigelow Aerospace in collaboration with Lockheed Martin
• Private spaceflight
• Spaceplane
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-105

References

1. ^ Flightglobal.com Blog - Feb 5, 2010
2. ^ ^{a b} Dream Chaser Model Drops in at NASA Dryden - NASA.gov (12.17.10)
3. ^ Businesses Take Flight, With Help From NASA - New York Times (January 31, 2011)
4. ^ Astronautix
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Sirangelo, Mark (2011-08). "NewSpace 2011: Sierra Nevada Corporation". Spacevidcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7sWtEAddkM. Retrieved 16 August 2011. 
6. ^ Bayt, Rob (2011-07-26). "Commercial Crew Program: Key Drving Requirments Walkthrough". NASA. http://commercialcrew.nasa.gov/document_file_get.cfm?docid=107. Retrieved 27 July 2011. 
7. ^ "Private Spaceflight Innovators Attract NASA's Attention". 2011/02/07. http://www.space.com/10785-nasa-commercial-space-innovators.html.  "Dream Chaser will become a fully capable suborbital vehicle on the way to reaching orbital capability."
8. ^ ^{a b} NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver touts Colorado's role
9. ^ Rendezvous Vol. 4 Issue 2 Summer 2010
10. ^ ^{a b} Frank Morring, Jr (2010-02-19). "Sierra Nevada Building On NASA Design". Aviation Week. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/awst/2010/02/22/AW_02_22_2010_p53-204735.xml&headline=Sierra%20Nevada%20Building%20On%20NASA%20Design. 
11. ^ "Dream Chaser". Astonautix. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/drehaser.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-14. 
12. ^ "SpaceDev Begins Work on Dream Chaser Space Vehicle". SpaceDev. http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/templates/subpage_article.php?pid=489. 
13. ^ "SpaceDev Announces Founder James Benson Steps Down as Chairman and CTO; Benson Starts Independent Space Company to Market SpaceDev’s Dream Chaser". SpaceDev. http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/templates/subpage_article.php?pid=583. 
14. ^ "SpaceDev and United Launch Alliance to Explore Launching the Dream Chaser(TM) Space Vehicle on an Atlas V Launch Vehicle". http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=236594. 
15. ^ "NASA Signs Commercial Space Transportation Agreements". NASA. 2007-06-18. http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/jun/HQ_07138_COTS_3_Unfunded_SAAs.html. Retrieved 16 August 2011. 
16. ^ Carreau, Mark (2011-08-04). "Boeing Selects Atlas V To Boost CST-100". Aviation Week. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awx/2011/08/04/awx_08_04_2011_p0-355471.xml&channel=space. Retrieved 2011-08-24. 
17. ^ "Sierra Nevada Corporation Acquires Space Dev Inc". SNC. December 16, 2008. http://www.sncorp.com/news/press/snc_2008_spacedev.shtml. 
18. ^ "SNC receives largest award of NASA's CCDev Competitive Contract". SNC. February 1, 2010. http://www.sncorp.com/news/press/pr10/snc_ccdev_spacenews.shtml. 
19. ^ "Text of Space Act Agreement". http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/444145main_NNJ10TA03S_sierra_saa.pdf. 
20. ^ ^{a b} Orbital Aims For Station With Lifting Body, Aviation Week, 2010-12-17, accessed 2010-12-20. "will use Virgin to market its services. But Sierra is also in discussions about using Virgin’s WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft as a platform for drop trials of the Dream Chaser atmospheric test vehicle"
21. ^ Companies submit plans for new NASA spacecraft, Daily Record, 2010-12-17, accessed 2010-12-20.
22. ^ Virgin joins forces with two companies on CCDev, NewSpace Journal, 2010-12-16, accessed 2010-12-18.
23. ^ "Sierra Nevada Space Systems Adds Key Former Nasa Leaders to Its Dream Chaser Orbital Space Vehicle Team". http://www.sncorp.com/news/press/pr11/snc_dream_nasa_team.shtml. 
24. ^ Businesses hope to discover profit in outer space, Herald Tribune, 2011-2-1, accessed 2011-2-28.
25. ^ Dean, James. "NASA awards $270 million for commercial crew efforts". space.com, April 18, 2011.
26. ^ "Sierra Nevada Space Systems Successfully Completes Two Major Nasa Human Space Flight Development Milestones" (Press release). http://www.sncorp.com/news/press/pr10/snc_ccdev_milestone.shtml. 
27. ^ "Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Round One Companies Have Reached Substantial Hardware Milestones In Only 9 Months, New Images and Data Show". http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/Other%20Content/High-Resolution%20Version%20-%20CCDev%20Significant%20Hardware%20Milestones%20Reached%20-%20Nov%208%202010.pdf. 
28. ^ http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/598228main_October_2011_CSD%2060%20Day%20Report_508.pdf
29. ^ http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/580957main_August%202011_CSD%2060%20Day%20Report_508.pdf
30. ^ http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/598228main_October_2011_CSD%2060%20Day%20Report_508.pdf

External links

• SpaceDev web site
• United Launch Alliance web site