Sierra Space Dream Chaser UPDATE Thread (was SNC)

[Rocket Science]

[yg1968]

During the Starliner press conference of yesterday, it was mentioned that the first mission of Dream Chaser is scheduled for late February 2023.

It's at 38 minutes of the video:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51827.msg2369726#msg2369726

[deadman1204]

Will the first SNC mission go to this ISS? Or will it just be a flight shakedown?

[TrevorMonty]

Will the first SNC mission go to this ISS? Or will it just be a flight shakedown?

Maiden launch is cargo to ISS. Which has be case for all cargo and crew vehicles.

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

[abaddon]

Will the first SNC mission go to this ISS? Or will it just be a flight shakedown?

Maiden launch is cargo to ISS. Which has be case for all cargo and crew vehicles.

That was not the case with SpaceX COTS, which had three demo flights (not including the maiden F9 launch with the Dragon Qualification Unit) contracted with only the final flight actually scheduled to berth on the ISS.  After the first successful demo flight SpaceX asked to combine flights two and three into one mission which did berth with the station.

[yg1968]

Will the first SNC mission go to this ISS? Or will it just be a flight shakedown?

Maiden launch is cargo to ISS. Which has be case for all cargo and crew vehicles.

That was not the case with SpaceX COTS, which had three demo flights (not including the maiden F9 launch with the Dragon Qualification Unit) contracted with only the final flight actually scheduled to berth on the ISS.  After the first successful demo flight SpaceX asked to combine flights two and three into one mission which did berth with the station.

True but this isn't COTS, it's CRS2. There is no demo missions.

[abaddon]

Will the first SNC mission go to this ISS? Or will it just be a flight shakedown?

Maiden launch is cargo to ISS. Which has be case for all cargo and crew vehicles.

That was not the case with SpaceX COTS, which had three demo flights (not including the maiden F9 launch with the Dragon Qualification Unit) contracted with only the final flight actually scheduled to berth on the ISS.  After the first successful demo flight SpaceX asked to combine flights two and three into one mission which did berth with the station.

True but this isn't COTS, it's CRS2. There is no demo missions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNC_Demo-1

[yg1968]

Will the first SNC mission go to this ISS? Or will it just be a flight shakedown?

Maiden launch is cargo to ISS. Which has be case for all cargo and crew vehicles.

That was not the case with SpaceX COTS, which had three demo flights (not including the maiden F9 launch with the Dragon Qualification Unit) contracted with only the final flight actually scheduled to berth on the ISS.  After the first successful demo flight SpaceX asked to combine flights two and three into one mission which did berth with the station.

True but this isn't COTS, it's CRS2. There is no demo missions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNC_Demo-1

Interesting. I didn't realize that they call it a demo mission but it is a CRS mission. Perhaps, they are calling it a demo mission because Dream Chaser will not yet be certified. I am guessing that Dream Chaser will be certified after the first mission. 

[abaddon]

Interesting. I didn't realize that they call it a demo mission but it is a CRS mission. Perhaps, they are calling it a demo mission because Dream Chaser will not yet be certified. I am guessing that Dream Chaser will be certified after the first mission.

That's the plan, assuming everything goes well enough.

[baldusi]

[...]
True but this isn't COTS, it's CRS2. There is no demo missions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNC_Demo-1

Interesting. I didn't realize that they call it a demo mission but it is a CRS mission. Perhaps, they are calling it a demo mission because Dream Chaser will not yet be certified. I am guessing that Dream Chaser will be certified after the first mission.

There was a Cygnus Demo-1 mission, too. First Cygnus to fly did it straight to the ISS, contrary to SpaceX that originally  proposed 3 demo missions (later compressed to 2) and then the certified CRS missions. So, I understand that the Demo mission is part of the certification phase, sort of a certification test flight, and then you enter into the IDIQ part of the CRS where each mission is a CLIN.
So, if we compare the three CRS contractors (SpaceX, ORS/NG, SNC), we can see that one contractor chose a solo flight, a rendevouz flight and a berth and capture flight (the latter two compresses into one), while the next two contractors chose a single demo straight to the station. I think Cygnus went with the HTV approach system, so it was more of a COTS for them, while SpaceX developed their own, even having to install their hardware in the ISS.
But for DreamChaser, it would seem that certifying a new cargo vehicle is something that they have a lot of experience, since they have done three berthing crafts already (HTV/Dragon 1/Cygnus) plus three docking ones (Dragon 2/ Crew Dragon/ Starliner). Also, they will have almost 55 cargo missions and 7 or 8 crewed missions already done by the time they fly. That's a lot of experience so the NASA side can check and oversight whatever SNC is doing.

[yg1968]

[...]
True but this isn't COTS, it's CRS2. There is no demo missions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNC_Demo-1

Interesting. I didn't realize that they call it a demo mission but it is a CRS mission. Perhaps, they are calling it a demo mission because Dream Chaser will not yet be certified. I am guessing that Dream Chaser will be certified after the first mission.

There was a Cygnus Demo-1 mission, too.

Cygnus' demo flight was part of COTS. The Dream Chaser demo is the first demo mission that is part of CRS. All the other ones were part of COTS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cygnus_(spacecraft)

When CRS was awarded, NASA had indicated that there would be no demo mission for Dream Chaser. I guess that they decided to call the first CRS mission a demo but it's more or less a demo as it is essentially a regular CRS mission.

[BrightLight]

Picked this up on youtube - apparently prepping for electrical harness installation for the flight article.  Will there be a high-fidelity "module" supplied to NASA for ground monitoring while flight systems are in use?

[BrightLight]

https://www.sierraspace.com/newsroom/press-releases/sierra-space-to-open-human-spaceflight-center-train-the-future-astronaut-corps-for-the-new-commercial-space-economy/

https://www.sierraspace.com/newsroom/blog/dr-janet-kavandi-on-sierra-spaces-new-human-spaceflight-office/

And this:
“A crewed variant of the Dream Chaser spaceplane is currently in development and will be operational in 2026, having successfully completed its System Requirements Review (SRR) earlier this month.“

Is this SRR for the cargo or crewed variants - the way the quote is written it reads as if Sierra space has a rough date for crewed DC.

[Robert_the_Doll]

Jeff Foust's take on it:

https://spacenews.com/sierra-space-to-start-astronaut-training-program/

They appear serious enough to start their own private astronaut training program with different levels relative to whatever prior experience an astronaut may have or their specific mission-related assignments.

[yg1968]

https://www.sierraspace.com/newsroom/press-releases/sierra-space-to-open-human-spaceflight-center-train-the-future-astronaut-corps-for-the-new-commercial-space-economy/

https://www.sierraspace.com/newsroom/blog/dr-janet-kavandi-on-sierra-spaces-new-human-spaceflight-office/

And this:
“A crewed variant of the Dream Chaser spaceplane is currently in development and will be operational in 2026, having successfully completed its System Requirements Review (SRR) earlier this month.“

Is this SRR for the cargo or crewed variants - the way the quote is written it reads as if Sierra space has a rough date for crewed DC.

The company would be able to start flying astronauts by 2026 to begin construction of Orbital Reef.

So it sounds like astronauts will be assembling Orbital Reef.

[Robert_the_Doll]

So it sounds like astronauts will be assembling Orbital Reef.

The first core module as seen in the videos and slideshows is largely self-contained and appears able to deploy its Energy Mast with solar arrays and radiators autonomously. Astronauts will come afterwords and probably only largely oversee docking:

[yg1968]

https://twitter.com/SierraSpaceCo/status/1539231800584720385

https://twitter.com/Tom_Garrity/status/1539261332347727872

[JAFO]

The Importance of Tenacity

  August 19, 2022

  |    Blog 

A plaque at Kennedy Space Center commemorates the end of an era for NASA and everyone interested in the future of space exploration. On July 21, 2011, the last space shuttle mission landed at the legendary facility in the heart of Florida’s “Space Coast.” For more than a decade, that runway has remained eerily quiet as humanity lost the ability to return from space with a comfortable low-G runway landing.
But a new era is about to begin…

https://www.sierraspace.com/newsroom/blog/the-importance-of-tenacity/

[FutureSpaceTourist]

https://twitter.com/systems_zero/status/1562915183424585728

Dream Chaser DC-102 cobond fabrication complete

[Rondaz]

This could be the most up-to-date view of Dream Chaser!

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1564357684442398720