Dream Chaser spaceplane

arstechnica.com wrote:


A commercial spaceplane is almost ready to fly. The first Dream Chaser spaceplane built to go into orbit is starting to look the part. Its foldable wings and fuselage are covered in custom-fitted ceramic tiles to shield the spacecraft's composite structure from the scorching heat of atmospheric reentry as it flies back to Earth. It has its landing gear, and technicians buzz around the vehicle to add the finishing touches before it leaves the factory.

Dream Chaser is undeniably a neat spaceship, and its story is remarkable. It taps into a vision for the future of spaceflight with roots at the dawn of the Space Age, combining the elements of rockets with aircraft. NASA has been studying or flying spaceplanes almost continuously since the agency's founding, and the military has been a big fan of spaceplanes for close to 60 years. Virgin Galactic operates a suborbital spaceplane for space tourists and research flights.

Sierra Space says its Dream Chaser will provide its cargo a gentle ride back to Earth at no more than 1.5 Gs. This is useful for animal specimens and other sensitive payloads. Dream Chaser will also deliver payloads closer to the labs that analyze experiment results.

The disposable cargo module for the first Dream Chaser flight to the space station has already departed Sierra Space's factory for Ohio. Once the Tenacity spaceplane arrives there, ground teams will connect the two segments of the Dream Chaser cargo freighter and run them through integrated tests. Those will include vibration and acoustic tests to check that the spacecraft can withstand the shaking and sound of a rocket launch. Sierra Space will also place the spacecraft inside a giant thermal vacuum chamber.

If everything checks out, the spacecraft will ship out to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Sierra Space says the first Dream Chaser flight to the space station is currently slated for April, with Dream Chaser heading back to Earth after a 45-day stay at the space station, aiming to return to the old space shuttle landing strip in Florida.

Dream Chaser is designed to fly in orbit for up to six months. A limiting factor in the spacecraft's operating life is its use of hydrogen peroxide propellant.

While Dream Chaser is Sierra Space's most famous product, the company is also working on inflatable habitats that could be used to build future commercial space stations. Sierra Space has partnered with Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos's space company, on a space station concept known as Orbital Reef. This is one of several private space stations under study to follow the International Space Station, which is due for retirement in 2030.

Read the full original article at https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/11/after-decades-of-dreams-a-commercial-spaceplane-is-almost-ready-to-fly/

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