The Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane, which Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) is developing to carry cargo to the International Space Station, successfully completed a free-flight test for the first time in California, the company said Nov. 13.
During the Nov. 11 test, a Columbia Helicopters Model 234-UT Chinook helicopter lifted the unmanned Dream Chaser with a 200-foot-long cable and released the vehicle at an altitude of about 12,000 feet. The 30-foot-long Dream Chaser then glided for about a minute before landing on a runway at Edwards Air Force Base.
“The test verified and validated the performance of the Dream Chaser spacecraft in the final approach and landing phase of flight, modeling a successful return from the space station,” SNC said.
The outcome was a significant improvement from Dream Chaser’s 2013 free-flight test, during which the spaceplane’s left landing gear failed to deploy properly, causing the vehicle to skid off the runway. Since then, SNC has incorporated new avionics, flight control systems and software into the spacecraft.
SNC is one of three companies chosen in 2016 to transport cargo to and from the space station under NASA’s Cargo Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract. The others are Orbital ATK [OA], with its Cygnus spacecraft, and SpaceX, with its Dragon capsule.
The first Dream Chaser mission to the space station is set to lift off in 2020 on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A critical design review for the first orbital version of the Dream Chaser is slated for mid-2018. A preliminary design review took place earlier in 2017.
SNC and its industry partners have begun building components for the orbital spacecraft, which is expected to be slightly heavier than the 14,000-pound vehicle used in the latest free-flight test.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 12, Orbital ATK launched its latest cargo resupply mission under the CRS-1 contract. A Cygnus spacecraft lifted off on an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The spacecraft is scheduled to reach the orbiting laboratory Nov. 14 and deliver about 7,400 pounds of equipment and supplies.
SpaceX’s next resupply mission under CRS-1 is slated to launch as early as December.