Because the flight mechanism wasn't ready when this vehicle was built. So they borrowed an existing system.
They've been working on the FTA for quite a while.
The X-15 had a rear skid collapse while landing overweight and the vehicle rolled. Even a simple system can fail... It can happen to a program with big players such as NASA, USAF and North American. It was rebuilt to fly again and set a hypersonic speed record. You can go visit her in Ohio at W.P.A.F.B. http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/9-november-1962/
People love SNC but do people really think that the another test article is going to fly within the next 3 -6 months? No. There will be an investigation 1 -2 months. Then it will take time to build another test device. Unless they have another waiting in the wings that is going to take another 3-6 months. I do not see them flying again till at least Q2\Q3 2014. Unless SpaceX and Boeing both have large failures they will too far behind the leaders. Sorry to say it - Spacex can afford to have the abort test in the spring to be a complete failure and still will be ahead of SNC. SNC can do Dreamchaser on their own dime but if I was them I would not expect them to win. Sorry - it sounds hard but those are the facts as I see them. Please explain to me why I am wrong if you have different facts.
A landing gear failure is a pretty bad, basic mistake. Lots of companies develop aircraft and test fly them without having landing gear failures. It calls into question SNC's management and oversight practices.
Quote from: Rocket Science on 10/27/2013 11:06 amThe X-15 had a rear skid collapse while landing overweight and the vehicle rolled. Even a simple system can fail... It can happen to a program with big players such as NASA, USAF and North American. It was rebuilt to fly again and set a hypersonic speed record. You can go visit her in Ohio at W.P.A.F.B. http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/9-november-1962/Yes and it was 18 months before she flew again. Think what a gap of only 6-9 months will do to SNC?
Quote from: ChrisWilson68 on 10/27/2013 12:05 amA landing gear failure is a pretty bad, basic mistake. Lots of companies develop aircraft and test fly them without having landing gear failures. It calls into question SNC's management and oversight practices.Sounds vaguely similar to the Delta Clipper X. One landing gear failed to extend, it tipped over, and that was it's last flight. (Ground crew forgot to connect a hydraulic hose).But yeah, if your management process isn't resilient enough to ensure that landing gear will extend, then your corporate structure has big problems.
Well, for reasons I stated above, there was very little chance they were going to make this down select anyways. As for you being wrong, I can't say. But unless you work for SNC, what you've stated are not facts, they are reasonable assumptions.
Quote from: rcoppola on 10/27/2013 03:40 pmWell, for reasons I stated above, there was very little chance they were going to make this down select anyways. As for you being wrong, I can't say. But unless you work for SNC, what you've stated are not facts, they are reasonable assumptions. What will be interesting is to see the PR reaction to losing the pretty face of the commercial crew program. Let's face it, Dream Chaser is simply sexier than any of the capsules and its imagery tended to find its way onto a lot of press releases. I'm guessing the reason we weren't allowed to see live footage of the drop or video footage in the wake of the failure is that it is deemed too politically ugly to see Lori Garver's poster child turning into wreckage in an ugly crash. But not sharing it when NASA used to be open about its failures just feels a little too Soviet-era Russia to me.