Shake, rattle and launch: Dream Chaser spaceplane passes vibration test

Sierra House’s shuttle-like Dream Chaser has been put by means of its paces at a strong NASA vibration facility that mimics circumstances throughout launch and atmospheric reentry, officers mentioned Thursday forward of its deliberate first flight to the ISS this 12 months.

The primary spaceplane of a deliberate line, Tenacity, was accomplished on the firm’s manufacturing facility in Louisville, Colorado in November after which shipped to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Check Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

There, it was uncovered to the Mechanical Vibration Facility, the world’s strongest spacecraft shaker system, NASA mentioned.

Subsequent, it will likely be positioned in an enormous in-ground vacuum chamber the place it is going to expertise the extremely high and low temperatures of space, in addition to low ambient strain.

“We’re actually excited that this 12 months, we enter orbital operations for NASA. It’s a 12 months that we alter how we join Earth and space,” Sierra House’s CEO Tom Vice advised reporters at a press occasion the place the spaceship was offered in “launch configuration,” mated to its Capturing Star cargo module.

Dream Chaser bears a powerful resemblance to House Shuttle, the long-lasting NASA spacecraft that was decommissioned in 2011.

However it’s far smaller, flies autonomously, has a revamped propulsion system primarily based on clean-burning hydrogen peroxide, and is designed to be re-used as much as 15 instances.

Sierra House, previously Sierra Nevada Company, gained a contract in 2016 to run resupply missions for NASA to the Worldwide House Station.

The primary flight will ship cargo to the orbital complicated at an unspecified date this 12 months, fastened to the highest of a brand new United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket, which made its personal debut flight in January.

In contrast to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, a gumdrop-shaped capsule that floats right down to the ocean on parachutes, Dream Chaser might in concept land at a runway anyplace on the earth, a characteristic marketed as a promoting level to shoppers that buy providers.

Future variations shall be designed to hold crew.

NASA’s objective is to seed a personal financial system in low Earth orbit, permitting the space company to concentrate on extra formidable missions to the Moon and Mars which lack a business incentive.

Sierra House’s different endeavors embody constructing a business space station referred to as Orbital Reef.

© 2024 AFP