Author Topic: Sierra Space Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread (was SNC)  (Read 740858 times)

Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #660 on: 12/28/2016 03:23 pm »
This presentation was posted a couple of weeks ago:

Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #661 on: 12/31/2016 04:29 am »
Some screen captures.

22 launches of something we built. Helped build Cygnus. Do the berthing adaptors. Protected Juno mission from radiation. 20 millions rads coming into Jupiter. Dreamchaser can land on any airport that can a B737 or A320. FAA certified Houston and Huntsville airports. 12 other airports working to get certified. By folding wings can return in C-5 cargo plane.

For Dreamchaser carho took out all things that are not needed for human spaceflight. Took out ECLSS and abort motors. 5500 kg cargo capacity. Cargo module burns up. 15 to 20 times reusability. None of this works if we don't do the primary mission well. Looking at what else we can do. That's a pretty interesting list. Provide a vehicle, rocket and training. Integration experience. Come home at  1.6g. Leave home at breakfast and be home at dinner. 6 to 10 hours. Created full interior mockup of vehicle in a module fashion. Be able to quickly change modules. Can carry up to 1500 kg of exterior payload in 500 kg bays.
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #662 on: 12/31/2016 11:53 pm »
Some captures from the presentation.

NASA. We don't think we could have lost another one. We have contingency supplies. For CRS-2 its about the same. A little more oversight for reliability and launching on time. A lot of complaints of the delays which is a big cost expense for the payloads. Station was prepared. Commercial payloads hurt more. Redundancy in CRS2. We did not overbuy. Capability to add missions if we need to. Launch on need capability. Bring up another vehicle quickly. Right now go with the missions we have if everything went according to plan. Have an ability to surge.

In this presentation, it was confirmed that the first missions of cargo DC will berth (not dock). However, Angela Hart from NASA said "at least in the initial vehicles" which implies that it could change later on (at 5m40s of the video).
« Last Edit: 01/01/2017 12:15 am by yg1968 »

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #663 on: 01/26/2017 11:41 pm »
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #664 on: 01/26/2017 11:46 pm »
More...
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #665 on: 01/31/2017 06:01 pm »
Article to mark the build up to the Spring test by Chris Gebhardt:
 https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/01/sierra-nevada-spring-landing-dream-chaser/
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Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #666 on: 02/07/2017 01:50 pm »
Quote
UN News: UNOOSA is looking to launch the first UN mission to outer space. Tell us about that.

Simonetta Di Pippo:
We have started to understand that access to space is really important for developing countries to be part of this space community and to get more and more benefits from being part of this process.

We are working with the Sierra Nevada Corporation, which has developed the Dream Chaser vehicle. This is quite an interesting spaceship because it goes up as a normal space object and comes back as a normal plane so it can land on a normal landing strip. What we are trying to do now is to put together a mission which should fly, we hope, by the end of 2021. The current baseline is for two weeks in orbit and it could bring between 25-30 experiments. So the announcement of opportunity, which I hope will be out in the second half of 2017, will be open essentially to developing countries, but also to others. The experiments will be selected with the main criteria being that they have to be in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=55960

Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #667 on: 02/13/2017 03:17 pm »

Offline cro-magnon gramps

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #668 on: 02/13/2017 03:45 pm »
Officials Mull Proposal for Manned Mission to Refurbish Hubble Telescope:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/officials-mull-proposal-for-manned-mission-to-refurbish-hubble-telescope-1486927198

WSJ is pay walled, so went looking and found this... while not directly related to Dream Chaser, as a tech demonstrator of potential instrumentation that could be uses on that space craft... it takes speculation from paper to hardware already existing...
https://spaceflightnow.com/2016/12/09/nasa-selects-builder-for-robotic-satellite-servicing-mission/
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Offline Star One

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Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #670 on: 02/13/2017 10:56 pm »
Officials Mull Proposal for Manned Mission to Refurbish Hubble Telescope:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/officials-mull-proposal-for-manned-mission-to-refurbish-hubble-telescope-1486927198

Here are some of the relevant parts:

Quote from: Pasztor
President Donald Trump’s advisers are considering an industry proposal to send a manned spacecraft to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope within the next few years, according to people familiar with the matter. The discussions are still preliminary [...]

The Hubble repair proposal also has garnered administration officials’ attention because it appears to meet still other important White House criteria, according to these people. The goal is to put a lid on federal expenditures for space by fostering public-private partnerships, while devising projects that can be completed within the president’s current four-year term.[...]

The company twice presented its proposal to transition officials, according to one person familiar with the details.[...]

An administration representative declined to comment, except to say that transition officials lacked power to approve new projects and “it will be the responsibility of the NASA administrator to set NASA policy.” [...]

You can access the article through Twitter (but not through a direct link for some reason):
https://twitter.com/Ally_Abrams/status/831171520290492416
« Last Edit: 02/13/2017 10:58 pm by yg1968 »

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #671 on: 02/16/2017 07:15 pm »
Quote
Dream Chaser at @NASAArmstrong for testing. The same hangar where the Shuttle Enterprise was housed! #SNCDreamChaser

https://twitter.com/sierranevcorp/status/832313664866639873

Offline catdlr

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #672 on: 02/17/2017 09:03 pm »
SNC's Dream Chaser Arrives at NASA Armstrong

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center

Published on Feb 17, 2017
Sierra Nevada Corporation delivered its Dream Chaser spacecraft Jan. 25, 2017, to NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, located on Edwards Air Force Base. The spacecraft will undergo several months of testing at the center in preparation for its approach and landing flight on the base's runway.

The test series is part of a developmental space act agreement SNC has with NASA’s HYPERLINK Commercial Crew Program. The upcoming test campaign will help SNC validate the aerodynamic properties, flight software and control system performance of the Dream Chaser.

The Dream Chaser is also being prepared to deliver cargo to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) contract beginning in 2019. The data that SNC gathers from this test campaign will help influence and inform the final design of the cargo Dream Chaser, which will fly at least six cargo delivery missions to and from the space station by 2024.



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Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #673 on: 02/19/2017 05:46 am »
Quote
Looking back at a gorgeous picture of Dream Chaser on its way to @NASAArmstrong!

https://twitter.com/sierranevcorp/status/832998274533580800

Offline Patchouli

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #674 on: 02/26/2017 03:41 am »
Officials Mull Proposal for Manned Mission to Refurbish Hubble Telescope:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/officials-mull-proposal-for-manned-mission-to-refurbish-hubble-telescope-1486927198
I take it this means a crewed version still might be possible in the future.
« Last Edit: 02/26/2017 03:41 am by Patchouli »

Offline Arch Admiral

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #675 on: 03/28/2017 05:50 am »
The problem with the crewed version is that it has to be launched inside a payload shroud with wings folded which vastly complicates the abort system.

The reason it has to be launched in a shroud is that otherwise the booster is highly unstable in pitch due to the lifting surface at the nose. Dyna-Soar tried to fix this problem with big tail fins on the boosters but wind tunnel tests revealed unpredictable interactions between the spacecraft wing and the booster fins.

Also, I think NASA would be scared stiff by the wing folding joints. The landing gear doors were a lot of trouble on Shuttle but the long wing joints on the "navalized" Dream Chaser are just asking for a burn-through.

Offline Lars-J

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #676 on: 03/28/2017 06:39 am »
EDIT: moved reply to discussion thread.
« Last Edit: 03/28/2017 06:39 am by Lars-J »

Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #677 on: 04/06/2017 01:09 pm »
« Last Edit: 04/06/2017 01:25 pm by yg1968 »

Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #678 on: 04/06/2017 01:14 pm »

Offline yg1968

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Re: SNC Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread
« Reply #679 on: 04/17/2017 04:09 pm »
This French article from March 21st 2017 says that SNC has not yet decided on a LV for cargo DC except for its first flight (which will be on an Atlas V). In the running are the following LVs:

Ariane 6 with 4 boosters
Blue Origin's New Glenn
ULA's Vulcan
SpaceX's Falcon 9

The article says that SNC will make a decision this spring on its LV for DC.

http://www.futura-sciences.com/sciences/actualites/dream-chaser-ariane-6-lancera-t-elle-mini-navette-dream-chaser-66745/
« Last Edit: 04/17/2017 07:22 pm by yg1968 »

 

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