Dream Chaser, the so-called “mini shuttle”, is ready to bring back the potential of returning experiments and equipment from the International Space Station (ISS) through Earth’s atmosphere for an eventual runway landing.
As much because the vehicle resembles NASA’s Space Transportation System, higher often known as the space shuttle, it’s actually based on a unique NASA design. NASA’s Vehicle Evaluation Branch on the Langley Research Center in Virginia originally studied the lifting body design often known as the HL-20. NASA researched the vehicle for greater than 15 years before transferring the research to the then Sierra Nevada corporation, now Sierra Space, in 2006.
Nevertheless, in discussion with NSF, representatives from Sierra Space tell us there’s still loads of inspiration taken from the shuttle program, particularly its thermal protection system (TPS).
Sierra Space is providing NASASpaceflight access into the construct and design of the first-ever business spaceplane. Its current iteration of Dream Chaser is the DC-100, with the primary vehicle within the fleet taking the name .
The vehicle is roofed with greater than two thousand individual tiles in keeping with the corporate. That’s in comparison with roughly 24,000 for a single space shuttle vehicle.
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A render of the Dream Chaser Tenacity in orbit. Credit: Sierra Space
A part of that has to do with vehicle size. As compared, Dream Chaser can be around ¼ the scale of the orbiters. The corporate can be using larger tiles in comparison with shuttle. Each Dream Chaser tile, while barely different in size based on its location on the vehicle, is roughly 10 by 10 inches, in comparison with the 6 by 6 inch tiles utilized by NASA.
Just like the shuttle, each tile on the vehicle is a novel design. “[Each tile] differs in size, shape, thickness, and density,” Sierra Space said. Nevertheless, they note some significant differences.
Each of the tiles on are made from a stronger material than what was used on each of NASA’s orbiters, although still silica-based.
A lot of the white material seen aboard the space shuttle is a thermal blanket fairly than tiles. As newer orbiters were built, the vehicles tended to make use of more of the thermal blanket in a approach to reduce vehicle weight.
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EXCLUSIVE: Work continues on installing thermal tiles. The difference between the white and black tiles is distinct. Credit: Sierra Space
On Dream Chaser, it’s each black and white tiles. Sierra Space told NSF the primary difference between the 2 is a special additive to the outer glass coating.
One other significant difference is that the vehicle consists primarily of the 2 kinds of tiles, black and white. The Space Shuttle had portions of the orbiter that needed to be reinforced to handle the warmth of reentry including the nose and the forefront of the wings. In those locations, NASA used special tiles made from reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) to resist the upper temperatures.
As compared, we’re told Dream Chaser has no RCC-type panels on the vehicle. “Standard tiles can withstand as much as 2,600° F (1,420° C) for multiple reentry cycles, and specialized ones can go higher for single use,” the corporate told NSF.
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EXCLUSIVE: An up-close have a look at the thermal protection system on Tenacity. Credit: Sierra Space
The tiles serve multiple purposes. Along with protecting the vehicle during reentry, it’ll also help normalize the temperature inside the craft while in direct sunlight. Temperatures can get as hot as 250° F (120° C) during orbital daylight. The tiles can assist to take care of a gradual temperature for experiments, and eventually humans, inside.
and future Dream Chaser cargo missions to the ISS will fly under the Industrial Resupply Services-2 round of NASA contracts. Sierra Space could be the third and final company to fly under this contract. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply vehicle together with SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon v2 complete the contract. Dream Chaser is anticipated to offer a minimum of seven uncrewed cargo missions under this contract.
One unique design factor with this variant of Dream Chaser is the foldable wings. This not only allows for a smaller vehicle profile when docked to the ISS but allows it to suit inside any five-meter payload fairing.
For now, the vehicle is ready to launch atop United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) newest vehicle, Vulcan, specifically the 542 variant (flying with a 5-meter payload fairing, 4 Northrop Grumman GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, and a dual-engine Centaur upper stage).
While that vehicle has yet to fly, its first flight is anticipated to launch Astrobotic’s lunar lander to the Moon, with the Dream Chaser Demo-1 flight currently scheduled to fly aboard the rocket’s second flight. ULA CEO Tory Bruno currently says the debut flight of Vulcan is targeting Q4 2023 with flying in 2024.
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A render of Dream Chaser with the Shooting Star cargo module. Credit: Sierra Space
Dream Chaser is anticipated to hold as much as five metric tons of pressurized cargo and a half metric ton of unpressurized cargo to the ISS. That’s partially because of the attached cargo module.
Crews can access the via the aft hatch, berthing to the space station. Once opened, crews can then use this to access the Dream Chaser vehicle itself, and provides a standard cabin environment for astronauts to work.
This portion of the vehicle shouldn’t be reused and shall be disposed of prior to Dream Chaser’s reentry. Sierra Space says they’re offering this as a service to assist eliminate garbage or other items not needed in space or on Earth.
Nevertheless, the first Dream Chaser vehicle will turn into only the second cargo vehicle in use today to supply “down mass” capability, in other words the power to bring experiments and equipment back to Earth.
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EXCLUSIVE: Crews work contained in the Dream Chaser vehicle. Credit: SIerra Space
The vehicle will give you the option to return 1.75 metric tons and might land on most conventional runways. It’s currently scheduled to land on the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The corporate also says the most important g-force any payload would experience on reentry could be only one.5 Gs.
Regarding reusability, the TPS will still require some work between flights of every space plane. Space shuttle tiles were injected with dimethylethoxysilane between flights to assist waterproof the tiles.
When chatting with NSF, Sierra Space confirmed, “the tiles are planned to be re-waterproofed between missions just like Shuttle.”
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EXCLUSIVE: An outline of the primary Dream Chaser vehicle covered in tiles, including the vertical stabilizer. Credit: Sierra Space
together with its attachment, will soon be sent to the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio where it’ll undergo thermal vacuum testing together with vibration and acoustic testing.
Following that, the vehicle will then be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final tests and processing prior to launch.