Case Study 3

• What is Dream Chaser?


  An American reusable lifting-body spaceplane that is being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)
• Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the cargo variant.
• The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from LEO.
• The cargo dream chaser is designed to resupply the international space station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo.
• It is intended to launch vertically on the Vulcan Centaur rocket and autonomously land horizontally on conventional runaways. A proposed version to be operated by ESA would launch on an Arianespace vehicle.
• It was originally proposed to be provided by twin hybrid rocket engines capable of repeated starts and throttling
• At the time, SNC Space Systems was also developing a similar hybrid rocket for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo.
• The new engines would use propane and nitrous oxide as propellants in favor of a cluster of Orbitec's Vortex engines.
• The originally planned Dream Chaser Space System is a human-rated version designed to carry from three to seven people and cargo to orbital destinations such as the International Space Station.
• It was to have a built-in launch escape system and could fly autonomously if needed.
• Although it could use any suitable launch vehicle, it was planned to be launched on a human-rated Atlas V N12 rocket. The vehicle will be able to return from space by gliding (typically experiencing less than 1.5 g on re-entry) and landing on any airport runway that handles commercial air traffic.
• Its reaction control system thrusters burned ethanol-based fuel, which is not an explosively volatile material, nor toxic like hydrazine, allowing the Dream Chaser to be handled immediately after landing, unlike the Space Shuttle
• On 25 October 2021, Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Sierra Space subsidiary for commercial space activities and space tourism, released their plan for a commercial space station. The station, called Orbital Reef, is intended as a "mixed-use business park"
• Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser was chosen as one of the commercial spacecraft to transport commercial crew to and from the space station, along with Boeing's Starliner.
• The CRS-2 cargo version will fly resupply flights to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services-2 program. Featuring an expendable cargo module mounting solar panels, the spacecraft will be capable of returning 1,750 kg (3,860 lb) to Earth while undergoing maximum re-entry forces of 1.5G
• To meet CRS-2 guidelines, the cargo Dream Chaser will have folding wings and fit within a 5 m diameter payload fairing, in contrast to the Crewed Dream Chaser, which is intended to launch without a fairing. The ability to fit into a payload fairing allows the cargo version to launch on any sufficiently capable vehicle, such as Ariane 5 as well as Atlas V.