Dream Chaser shipped to NASA Dryden for glide tests

The Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser, under the commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap) program, has been shipped to the NASA Dryden facility to undergo glide tests. The space craft will be reassembled at Dryden, where it will undergo suitability to tow, ground resonance, and captive carry testing. Upon completion of those tests, it will be carried up to various altitudes under a Sikorsky CH-53, and dropped, to glide back to the runway.

Successful completion of at least one flight test will get Sierra Nevada $15M, and completion of all 10 milestones gets them $213M. Dream Chaser is one of three programs under CCiCap, which includes the Boeing CST-100 capsule, and the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Sierra Nevada has shipped the Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center near Palmdale, California, for glide tests.

The Dream Chaser departed Sierra Nevada's factory near Denver, Colorado by truck, headed for NASA's Dryden centre, which is co-located with flight test facilities at Edwards AFB.

The spacecraft will be reassembled, then undergo tests including suitability for towing, ground resonance and captive-carry tests slung beneath a helicopter, leading up to a series of autonomous glide tests.

www.flightglobal.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58

I was looking over some pictures...

Dream Chaser Images

Unique machine. Will it have engines to maneuver in the atmosphere this time?

reply to post by intrptr


As far as I know, it's another glider. But this one will be able to land at any commercial runway facility, and will use ethanol based fuel for the RCS, instead of hydrazine based, so they'll be able to handle it immediately after landing.

Originally posted by intrptr
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

I was looking over some pictures...

Dream Chaser Images

Unique machine.

Actually, it owes a lot to the NASA "lifting bodies" from the 1960's - particularly the HL-10. The Soviet Union also worked on one called the MiG105-11 "Spiral". They actually did an orbital test of an unmanned subscale version in 1982.

reply to post by Saint Exupery


This is the third iteration of the name Dream Chaser. The first was based on the HL-20 and would be orbital, built by SpaveDev. The second was a suborbital version, built by Benson Space Company, after Jim Benson stepped down from SpaceDev and started his own company.

reply to post by Saint Exupery
You guys know more than I about this, so sorry if this is a dumb observation. Didn't Burt Retan have something to do with this design as far as reentry maneuvers and such?

Virgin Galactic

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by intrptr

 

As far as I know, it's another glider. But this one will be able to land at any commercial runway facility, and will use ethanol based fuel for the RCS, instead of hydrazine based, so they'll be able to handle it immediately after landing.

So no air breathing engines then to maneuver inside the atmosphere? I thought this profile looked like an intake. I guess not.



Or this one. Familiar twin engine shape to the fuselage? Just space manuevering thrusters?

reply to post by intrptr


The aft ones are OMS engines, similar to those on the aft fuselage of the shuttle.




The finished product doesn't have the openings on the front. They get covered over by fuselage.

reply to post by intrptr


Looks like they are OMS/RCS pods, like on the Shuttle. They would also contain the fuel tanks. en.wikipedia.org...

Thanks guys...