Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser® Program Preparing for Second Free-Flight Test and First Orbital Test
SPARKS, Nev., October 07, 2015 – In anticipation of a second phase of flight testing, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems has announced significant updates to two Dream Chaser® spacecraft currently in development. The spacecraft are the atmospheric engineering test article (ETA) and the advanced composite orbital vehicle, which when tested will undergo a suborbital and orbital flight regimen, respectively. SNC’s Mark Sirangelo provided a program update at the International Symposium for Commercial and Personal Spaceflight (ISPCS) in New Mexico.
“The SNC team is readying the ETA in order to begin the second phase of atmospheric flight testing early next year and our strategic partner, Lockheed Martin, is leveraging best practices in tooling and composites to manufacture the first orbital Dream Chaser spacecraft,” said Mark. N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president, SNC’s Space Systems. “Both efforts have been ongoing simultaneously and we are very pleased with the progress to date.”
Since flight test phase one, in which SNC’s Dream Chaser ETA successfully returned trajectory data of the flight profile, SNC has made significant structural and systems improvements to the ETA including the composite wings and aeroshells. SNC also invested heavily in maturing the spacecraft orbital avionics, guidance navigation and control, the flight software, and employed a number of new processes, all of which will be used on the orbital vehicle as well. Finally, the advanced orbital Thermal Protection System (TPS), announced in June, was installed on the ETA skid in order to do advanced testing of the actual orbital TPS in this important area.
“The Dream Chaser ETA is currently scheduled to arrive at Armstrong Flight Research Center in early 2016 in order to begin the second phase of atmospheric flight test.”
In parallel to the ETA upgrade, SNC has made significant progress on the build of the first Dream Chaser orbital vehicle manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is leveraging best-practices in composite manufacturing from the Skunk Works®, its advanced development programs division, as well as its extensive experience in manufacturing and assembly from the F-35 Lightning II.
Lockheed Martin recently completed the Dream Chaser orbital cabin assembly, marking a significant milestone in the construction of this vehicle. This assembly is the largest high-temperature unitized structure ever fabricated at U.S. Air Force Plant 4. The assembly utilized three-dimensional woven joints, to integrate internal frames with external carbon skins in a single co-bond operation, meaning nearly all fasteners on this critical cabin assembly are eliminated. This state-of –the-art approach to design and manufacturing is a highly efficient and affordable design solution.
“Upon completion, the Dream Chaser orbital vehicle will be the most advanced composite structure ever built. We look forward to Dream Chaser becoming the world leader in this area and to its first orbital flight,” said Sirangelo.
SNC’s Dream Chaser spacecraft is the only reusable, lifting-body, multi-mission-capable vehicle with a commercial runway landing capability - anywhere in the world. The Dream Chaser is a safe, affordable, flexible and reliable system capable of crewed and uncrewed transportation services to low-Earth orbit destinations such as the International Space Station. SNC has designed the Dream Chaser Cargo System as a solution for NASA’s commercial transportation services needs under the Cargo Resupply Services 2 contract and for other fully autonomous orbital missions.
About Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems business area based in Louisville, Colorado, designs and manufactures advanced spacecraft, space vehicles, rocket motors and spacecraft subsystems and components for the U.S. Government, commercial customers, as well as for the international market. SNC’s Space Systems has more than 25 years of space heritage and has participated in over 400 successful space missions through the delivery of over 4,000 systems, subsystems and components. During its history, SNC’s Space Systems has concluded over 70 programs for NASA and over 50 other clients. For more information about SNC’s Space Systems visit http://www.sncspace.com/.
About Sierra Nevada Corporation
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, is among the “World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Space.” Over the last 30 years, under the leadership of President Eren Ozmen and CEO Fatih Ozmen, SNC has become one of America’s fastest-growing private companies and the Top Woman-Owned Federal Contractor in the United States. With a workforce of over 3,000 personnel, SNC now has 33 locations in 18 states and business divisions in England, Germany and Turkey. SNC has a reputation for rapid, innovative, and agile technology solutions in electronics, aerospace, avionics, space, propulsion, micro-satellite, aircraft and communications systems.
SNC has six unique business areas that are dedicated to providing leading-edge solutions to its dynamic customer base. SNC has a proven track record of success spanning more than five decades. It is focused on providing its customers with the very best in diversified technologies and continues to focus its growth on the commercial sector through internal advancements in dual-use applications and outside acquisitions including the emerging markets of telemedicine, Cyber, net-centric operations and commercial airlines.
For more information on SNC visit http://www.sncorp.com/and follow us at Facebook/SierraNevCorp. Sierra Nevada Corporation and SNC are trademarks of Sierra Nevada Corporation.
Media Contact: SNCDreamChaser@sncorp.com or Betsy McDonald at 775-849-6435.
