SNC Dream Chaser spaceplane (major update)

[Dr Mordrid]

Now that they have a CCDev 2 contract....

NASA-SNC CCDev 2 contract (PDF)....

Aviation Week article....

Sierra Nevada Details Drop Plan For Dream Chaser

LOS ANGELES —Bolstered by its recent second-round NASA Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDev2) win to continue development of the Dream Chaser spaceship, Sierra Nevada Corp. is revealing new details of its plan to conduct full-scale drop tests in 2012 using the Scaled Composites-developed WhiteKnightTwo mothership.
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The atmospheric drop test of the full-scale vehicle, expected sometime in the second quarter of 2012, will asses handling qualities as well as stability and control during an unpowered descent to a conventional runway landing. The design of the low-speed flight control system is being fine-tuned after drop tests of a scale model were conducted in December at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center from a helicopter hovering over the dry lakebed at Edwards AFB, Calif.
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[Dr Mordrid]

Sierra Nevada's Mark Sirangelo at the NewSpace 2011 conference -

- Selected the Atlas V five years ago. First company to work with ULA on Commercial Crew.
- (Atlas V) Will have launched over 40 times by the time Dream Chaser flies on it.
- First full sized structural vehicle and other hardware well into production.
- Completely tested the flight motors.
- Don't need a separate abort system; uses the same rockets for vehicle propulsion as for abort.
- Will have power to select runway.
- Can always fine a runway to land from launch to orbit and back.
- Built a large scale model and flew it from 14k feet several times.
- Built and tested a full scale cockpit flight simulator

Q&A:

- Contacted Russian engineers who worked on the BOR-4, which was reversed engineered by NASA for the HL-20.
- Smaller version of the SS2 motors. Slightly bigger than the SS1 motors. Same technologies. (Sierra Nevada makes them)
- Highly reusable. Don't know turnaround times yet.
- No toxic fuels on board. Use ethanol/liquid oxygen thrusters (Shuttle used toxic hypergolic fuels)
- Lifting body came out of study of many vehicle designs.
-- Needed a utilitarian vehicle with as many possible uses as possible.
-- Can be all crew or all cargo and can run autonomously on orbit for months at a time (indicates full robotic mode)
-- Can run servicing missions (implies a robotic arm option from Canada's MDA - makers of Shuttle's CanadArm)
-- Number of different markets and lifting body fits well with all of them.
-- Less than 2 G's on reentry (excellent for delicate experiment return and MedEvac)
-- Can go right up to vehicle after landing (because of non-toxic fuels).
- Worked with NASA Ames for TPS (thermal protection system - heat shield). Think it can last multiple-missions
-- Remove in large areas rather than tile by tile.
- How many flights for ROI? - As many flights as possible!
-- Expect 25-50 flights per vehicle. Should provide sufficient return.
- Studies showed it doesn't need to be shrouded (no launch fairing surrounding the vehicle).
- Not looking at building a reusable launcher. Not Sierra's expertise. Can launch on someone else's reusable booster

[Dr Mordrid]

Major update

First two videos - Save As should work....

Dream Chaser ConOps (silent launch -> landing animation - WMV)

CCDev progress summary/promo (lots of cool stuff - look closely - WMV)

And the basic Dream Chaser PDF brochure. Not fancy, but still -

http://www.spacedev.com/uploads/brochures/Dream_Chaser.pdf

Also find links to 2048x CG renderings showing hatch locations, thermal tile layouts - hell, rivets in the 5k pic I resized these from. Two 2048x photos show the engine being tested and the engineering test article they used for loads testing at Boeing's Phantom Works. I suggest Save As'ing these.

Docking....
Landing....
Test article....
Engine fire....

Finally: the update text -

SNC’s Space Exploration Systems product line is changing how space is accessed, explored, and utilized through commercial means. With its broad technology base, depth of capability, and human spaceflight expertise, Space Exploration Systems is continually advancing systems and technologies to support the future of human spaceflight.

The focus of the Space Exploration Systems (SES) product line is the Dream ChaserTM Space System (DCSS). The Dream ChaserTM Space System is on the forefront of the commercial human spaceflight industry, offering safe, reliable, and cost effective crew and cargo transportation to low Earth orbit. The Dream ChaserTM Program’s primary mission is to provide the United States with human spaceflight capability by transporting up to seven crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and returning both crew and cargo safely to Earth.

SNC's Space Systems is currently working with the NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Office on the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program to develop and configure the system for ISS servicing. In parallel, SNC has signed a memorandum of understanding with United Launch Alliance (ULA) and is evaluating man-rating the Atlas 5 launch vehicle and configuring it for use with Dream ChaserTM to provide a launch configuration based on the exceptional heritage of the Atlas family of launch vehicles.

Dream ChaserTM Space System Features:

• Reusable lifting-body spacecraft carries up to seven crew and cargo to and from low Earth orbit
  Including the transportation of NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station
• Vehicle design derived from NASA’s HL-20 , which has years of development, analysis, and wind tunnel testing by the Langley Research Center
• Launches vertically on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V Launch Vehicle
• Capable of free flight in low Earth orbit and of docking to the International Space Station & other orbital destinations
• Low-g reentry (< 1.5 gs) protects crew & science experiment return samples
• Low-impact horizontal landing on a conventional runway
• Large cross-range with frequent landing opportunities
• Exceptional crew safety features, such as non-toxic propulsion systems
• On-board propulsion system derived from SNC’s SpaceShipOne & SpaceShipTwo hybrid rocket motor technology
• Designed for simple maintenance and quick turnaround
• Winner of Two NASA Commercial Crew Development Awards, totaling $100 Million
  Space Exploration Systems has successfully completed all Commercial Crew Development Program milestones on time and within budget

Dream ChaserTM - Hybrid Propulsion:

• SNC’s Space Systems Proven Hybrid Rocket Propulsion Technology has:
  Over 10 years of development
  Over 300 firings
• Heritage Includes the SpaceShipOne & SpaceShipTwo Rocket Motors
• A Dream ChaserTM Full Mission Profile Hot Firing Demonstrated the Motor’s Vacuum & Restart Capability
• Dream ChaserTM Uses Safe, Non-Toxic, Storable, & Human Flight Tested Propellant

[Dr Mordrid]

1) the first Dream Chaser leaves for the NASA Dryden flight test center soon, where drop test flights will occur. The carrier aircraft will be a large helicopter. After a series of unmanned glide test tests pilots will fly DC under power using its twin hybrid rocket engines.

2) NASA CCiCAP milestones update

Sierra Nevada Corporation Completes Dream Chaser® Milestones for Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities Program

SPARKS, Nev., – April 25, 2013 – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems has successfully completed two milestones as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) phase of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. SNC completed the Program Implementation Review, providing NASA with detailed plans for advancing the Dream Chaser® crew transportation system towards a critical design state. SNC also completed an Integrated System Baseline Review that communicated the post-Preliminary Design Review maturity of the baseline Dream Chaser® orbital crew vehicle, mission systems, ground systems, and United Launch Alliance's Atlas V launch vehicle.

“The successful completion of these milestones resulted in affirmation that the Dream Chaser® Space System design meets its mission requirements as we work towards rebuilding the United States’ capability to fly astronauts into low Earth orbit,” said Jim Voss, vice president of SNC's Space Exploration Systems. “Both CCiCap milestones offered us the opportunity to communicate SNC's detailed development plans, as well as to receive and incorporate NASA's comments and feedback.”

SNC was awarded $212.5 million by NASA in August 2012 and to date has received over $330 million by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The funding represents the agency's co-investment in furthering the development of the Dream Chaser® Space System design to carry crew and critical cargo to and from the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle is scheduled to complete its first free flight test in conjunction with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in Calif., in 2013.

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[Dr Mordrid]

One last step before drop test flights (it's heading for the test site VERY soon) and a first launch. The first drop tests will be robotic, but soon after they 'll be piloted. It'll then gradiate to powered tests of its dual hybrid abort / orbital maneuvering / re-entry burn engines.

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/snc-safetyreview.html

Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) Space Systems of Louisville, Colo., has completed its first major, comprehensive safety review of its Dream Chaser Space System. This is the company's latest paid-for-performance milestone with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is working with commercial space partners to develop capabilities to launch U.S. astronauts from American soil in the next few years.

The Integrated Systems Safety Analysis Review provided NASA with hazard reports and safety and reliability plans for the major components of the company's integrated crew transportation system, including the Dream Chaser spacecraft, United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, and flight and ground systems.

"Safety review milestones are critical to ensuring safety and reliability techniques and methods are incorporated into space systems design," said Ed Mango, NASA's CCP manager. "NASA's participation in these reviews provides our partners with critical design experiences from past human spaceflight activities."

SNC is developing its Dream Chaser Space System under NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.

"Dream Chaser is making substantial progress toward flight with the help of our NASA team," said Mark Sirangelo, head of SNC's Space Systems. "The ability to openly exchange information through the work on these CCiCap milestones is invaluable for many reasons, such as communicating Dream Chaser development plans and receiving timely feedback from NASA, all of which help to improve our design and maximize safety and reliability. As we begin our flight test program we have a better and stronger program due to our partnership with NASA."

[Dr Mordrid]

The SNC Dream Chaser engineering test article (ETA) has left by truck convoy for the NASA Dryden flight test center. The trip was delayed a bit because its seven actuator control units (ACU's move the control surfaces) were replaced. At Dryden it will be used for drop / glide landing tests. Drops will initially he from ~14,000 ft from a large cargo helicopter. The ETA had its tail and winglets removed and was shrink-wrapped for the trip.

SNC confirms that the fuzzy dice that have been hanging behind its windscreen will remain in place throughout its test flights

Crew launch tower concept (Atlas V 402)


Dream Chaser ETA (provisional name: "Eagle")

[Dr Mordrid]

SNC's Dream Chaser is Unwrapped for Testing

Tue, 21 May 2013 9:45:28 PM UTC

Several Sierra Nevada Corporation employees recently unwrapped the Dream Chaser flight test vehicle following its five-state journey from Colorado to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California. The prototype space access vehicle will undergo ground and approach-and-landing flight tests in the coming months at Dryden as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) development work. SNC is one of three companies working with CCP during the agency's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.

Dryden Images: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/m...ser/index.html

[Dr Mordrid]

[Dr Mordrid]

3168x1951 image of Dream Chaser 'Eagle'....

http://www.aviationweek.com/awmobile/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_06_03_2013_p54-582468.xml

Sierra Nevada Builds Up To Lifting-Body Drop Tests

Just over 50 years ago a high-powered Pontiac convertible charged across Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards AFB, Calif., towing a primitive lifting body. This month, Sierra Nevada Corp's (SNC) Dream Chaser, a descendent of the pioneering M2-F1, will repeat almost identical tests at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center as part of a program aimed at an orbital demonstration before 2017.

While the Pontiac and plywood-and-steel-built M2-F1 of 1963 have given way to a Ford truck and the advanced composite structure of the Dream Chaser, the aim of proving the viability of a lifting body for space transport is unchanged. Sierra Nevada's test comes as part of NASA's competitive Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to develop U.S. human space launch capability to low Earth orbit. It is widely viewed as providing the best chance yet for the first practical application of a design that can reenter the atmosphere and land on a runway using lift generated by the shape of the airframe rather than wings—the mode used by the space shuttle and Boeing's X-37.

Lifting-body development reached a dead end in the 1970s when the larger-scale requirements of NASA and the U.S. Air Force drove the designers of the space shuttle toward a winged reusable spacecraft. With the priority of the CCP focused on crew and smaller payloads, SNC revived NASA's HL-20 lifting-body design to develop the Dream Chaser, which is capable of carrying seven astronauts to orbit. The vehicle is designed to launch from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 402.

Sierra Nevada is competing against alternative capsule designs developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Boeing under a $212.5 million Commercial Crew Integrated Capability contract awarded in August 2012. The engineering test article (ETA) arrived at Dryden in mid-May from Sierra Nevada's Space Systems facility in Louisville, Colo., and is starting initial tow tests following reassembly and integrated systems testing.

The build-up to approach and landing tests (ALT) starts with a 10-mph tow behind a truck, followed by a gradual step-up in speed beyond 20 mph at intervals to 60 mph to “check the brakes and see how the guidance, navigation and control (GNC) operates,” says SNC Spacecraft Advanced Development director John Curry. Beyond this speed, the tow line will be cast off to demonstrate the ability of the steering and GNC system to track down the runway centerline. The Dream Chaser has a conventional wheeled main landing gear and a SpaceShipTwo-like retractable nose skid.

Other system checks prior to upcoming drop tests from a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane include ground test of the flight termination and parachute deployment system. The Dream Chaser ETA, which flew a year ago in Colorado in a series of captive-carry flights slung below an S-64, is likely to continue ground taxi tests through July. ALT work, modeled after the initial flight-tests of the space shuttle demonstrator in 1977, is expected to start in August, with several drops set to occur from the helicopter hovering more than 10,000-ft. over the lakebed.

The flights will lead to high-altitude tests up to 40,000 ft. which will be conducted using a piloted space-capable flight-test vehicle now in initial assembly at Lockheed Martin's Michoud facility in New Orleans. If adequate funding is approved for the CCP, tow tests behind a C-17 could occur in late 2014.

[Dr Mordrid]

3168x1951 image of Dream Chaser 'Eagle'....

http://www.aviationweek.com/awmobile/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_06_03_2013_p54-582468.xml

Sierra Nevada Builds Up To Lifting-Body Drop Tests

Just over 50 years ago a high-powered Pontiac convertible charged across Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards AFB, Calif., towing a primitive lifting body. This month, Sierra Nevada Corp's (SNC) Dream Chaser, a descendent of the pioneering M2-F1, will repeat almost identical tests at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center as part of a program aimed at an orbital demonstration before 2017.

While the Pontiac and plywood-and-steel-built M2-F1 of 1963 have given way to a Ford truck and the advanced composite structure of the Dream Chaser, the aim of proving the viability of a lifting body for space transport is unchanged. Sierra Nevada's test comes as part of NASA's competitive Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to develop U.S. human space launch capability to low Earth orbit. It is widely viewed as providing the best chance yet for the first practical application of a design that can reenter the atmosphere and land on a runway using lift generated by the shape of the airframe rather than wings—the mode used by the space shuttle and Boeing's X-37.

Lifting-body development reached a dead end in the 1970s when the larger-scale requirements of NASA and the U.S. Air Force drove the designers of the space shuttle toward a winged reusable spacecraft. With the priority of the CCP focused on crew and smaller payloads, SNC revived NASA's HL-20 lifting-body design to develop the Dream Chaser, which is capable of carrying seven astronauts to orbit. The vehicle is designed to launch from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 402.

Sierra Nevada is competing against alternative capsule designs developed by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Boeing under a $212.5 million Commercial Crew Integrated Capability contract awarded in August 2012. The engineering test article (ETA) arrived at Dryden in mid-May from Sierra Nevada's Space Systems facility in Louisville, Colo., and is starting initial tow tests following reassembly and integrated systems testing.

The build-up to approach and landing tests (ALT) starts with a 10-mph tow behind a truck, followed by a gradual step-up in speed beyond 20 mph at intervals to 60 mph to “check the brakes and see how the guidance, navigation and control (GNC) operates,” says SNC Spacecraft Advanced Development director John Curry. Beyond this speed, the tow line will be cast off to demonstrate the ability of the steering and GNC system to track down the runway centerline. The Dream Chaser has a conventional wheeled main landing gear and a SpaceShipTwo-like retractable nose skid.

Other system checks prior to upcoming drop tests from a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane include ground test of the flight termination and parachute deployment system. The Dream Chaser ETA, which flew a year ago in Colorado in a series of captive-carry flights slung below an S-64, is likely to continue ground taxi tests through July. ALT work, modeled after the initial flight-tests of the space shuttle demonstrator in 1977, is expected to start in August, with several drops set to occur from the helicopter hovering more than 10,000-ft. over the lakebed.

The flights will lead to high-altitude tests up to 40,000 ft. which will be conducted using a piloted space-capable flight-test vehicle now in initial assembly at Lockheed Martin's Michoud facility in New Orleans. If adequate funding is approved for the CCP, tow tests behind a C-17 could occur in late 2014.

[Dr Mordrid]

Dream Chaser from the nose end.

Red items are "remove before flight" protection covers. The nose spike houses sensors that are used to detect air speed and other flight characteristics during early test flights.

[Dr Mordrid]

Tail end showing the docking hatch and hybrid rocket** engines. The heat shield is a lightweight ablative good for several flights that can be quickly replaced as a single module. This speeds turnaround and could support a high flight rate.

** a hybrid tocket uses a solid fuel grain and liquid oxidizer. They combine the relative simplicity of a solid with the ability to shut down, restart, and throttle of a liquid rocket. These are made by SNC's SpaceDev division.

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is putting its Dream Chaser flight vehicle through a series of ground tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California in preparation for upcoming captive-carry and free-flight tests.

During two tow tests, a pickup truck pulled the Dream Chaser flight vehicle on Dryden's concrete runways to validate the performance of the spacecraft's nose skid, brakes, tires and other systems. The company has performed the tests at 10 and 20 mph, and is working toward 40 and 60 mph tests later this month. Range and taxi tow tests are standard for winged vehicles that touch down on a runway to prove the overall spacecraft handling post-landing.

[Dr Mordrid]

Stop-action of getting Dream Chaset assembled at Dryden before testing

[Dr Mordrid]

Large images of Dream Chaser "Eagle" on the tarmac

DC image 1....

DC image 2....

DC image 3....