Dream Chaser, Sierra Space’s shuttle-shaped spacecraft, is undergoing final testing in preparation for its very first taste of space. It’s called Tenacity.
Assembly of the spacecraft was accomplished in early November, after which it was shipped from a Sierra Space facility in Louisville, Colorado to NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio for environmental testing, in line with a Sierra Space statement.
Dream Chaser and Sierra Space’s “Shooting Star” cargo module shall be stacked in launch configuration, then exposed to extreme launch vibrations within the Mechanical Vibration Facility, which features the world’s strongest shaker table.
When ready, it’s going to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket. It would lift off from Cape Canaveral and return to Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility runway on the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Vulcan Centaur is currently preparing for its first flight in January.
Sierra Space didn’t offer a goal date for the launch of Tenacity beyond stating it will happen in 2024. Previous reporting suggests the flight could happen as soon as April 2024.
The Dream Chaser system is designed to hold cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). Tenacity is slated for an initial seven ISS robotic cargo resupply missions. A crew version will have the option to hold as much as seven astronauts.
Sierra Space says it’s revolutionizing space transportation with its Dream Chaser platform. The spacecraft can land on business runways as a substitute of splashing down within the oceans, and will be reused for no less than 15 missions per system. It also boasts fully autonomous operations, and a green, hydrogen peroxide-based propulsion system.
Together with Tenacity, a second Dream Chaser vehicle, named Reverence, is in production.
