Contents

SSC Demo-1

Dream Chaser Demo-1

Scale model of the Dream Chaser Cargo System with the Shooting Star module
Names	SSC Demo-1
Mission type	Flight test, ISS resupply
Operator	Sierra Nevada
Website	sierraspace.com/dream-chaser-spaceplane
Mission duration	82 days (planned)[1]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Dream Chaser Tenacity
Spacecraft type	Dream Chaser
Manufacturer	Sierra Nevada Lockheed Martin
Start of mission
Launch date	2025 (planned)[2]
Rocket	Vulcan Centaur VC4L[a][3]
Launch site	Cape Canaveral, SLC-41
Contractor	United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.6°
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port	Harmony nadir or Unity nadir
Commercial Resupply Services ← CRS-31 CRS-32 →   Dream Chaser flights ← Drop Test 2 CRS-1 →

SSC Demo-1, also known as Dream Chaser Demo-1, is the planned first flight of the Sierra Space robotic resupply spacecraft Dream Chaser to the International Space Station (ISS) under the CRS-2 contract with NASA. The demonstration mission is planned for launch no earlier than 2025.^[2][4]

In April 2021 the Dream Chaser division of the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) was spun-off, creating the new fully independent company, the Sierra Space Corporation (SSC), which assumed full oversight over the Dream Chaser program. The company developed a new reusable spacecraft to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS), based on decades of lifting body programs. Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, the company designed Dream Chaser with industrial partner Lockheed Martin.

The company also designed the accompanying Shooting Star cargo module with subcontractor Applied Composites.^[5] At the end of mission, the Shooting Star will destructively reenter the atmosphere and the Dream Chaser will land at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.

Spacecraft[edit]

The Dream Chaser Cargo System will fly cargo resupply missions to the ISS under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services-2 program. This system features the Shooting Star, an expendable cargo module with solar panels, and the Dream Chaser, a reusable lifting body capable of returning 1,750 kg (3,860 lb) of pressurized cargo to Earth while undergoing maximum re-entry forces of 1.5 g.^[6][7]

The Dream Chaser design is derived from NASA's HL-20 Personnel Launch System spaceplane concept from the 1990s, which in turn is descended from over 20,000 hours and six decades of experimental lifting body vehicles, including the X-20 Dyna-Soar, Northrop M2-F2, Northrop M2-F3, Northrop HL-10, Martin X-24A and X-24B, and Martin X-23 PRIME.^{[8][9][10][11]}

The vehicle to be used in SSC Demo-1 is named Tenacity.^[12][13] The Shooting Star carries pressurized and unpressurized cargo, and serves as the power supply for the Dream Chaser.^[7] The Shooting Star will have a cargo capacity of 4,536 kg (10,000 lb). Its design is similar to the Exoliner cargo container shown in Lockheed Martin's Jupiter proposal for NASA's CRS-2.

Mission[edit]

SSC Demo-1 is the Dream Chaser demonstration mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract with NASA. Production and integration of the Dream Chaser spacecraft is performed in Texas, Colorado, and Florida. The Dream Chaser is mated with the Shooting Star at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Colorado and Houston, Texas. Sierra Nevada selected ULA's Vulcan Centaur as its launch vehicle for this Demo-1 mission and the six contracted NASA CRS-2 missions.^[14][15][16]

See also[edit]

• Orbital-D1 – First Cygnus demonstration flight to dock to ISS
• SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2 – First SpaceX demonstration flight to dock to ISS

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

^ R. Dale, Reed (1997). "Wingless Flight The Lifting Body Story" (PDF). NASA. p. 180. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2014. ... The NASA lifting-body program has been well documented in about 100 technical reports on the program's 222 flights and 20,000 hours of wind-tunnel tests. Many of these publications are unclassified. The Soviet Union purchased copies of these reports from NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., then designed its own lifting body. In 1982, the Soviets flight-tested an unpiloted, 10-foot-long, subscale version of their lifting body, the BOR-4, including a maneuvering re-entry over the Indian Ocean from space orbit. The flight test of the BOR-4 closely resembled that of our PRIME (X-23) vehicle in 1966... This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

^ Wallace, Lance E. (1996). "Flights of Discovery: 50 Years at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center" (PDF). NASA. p. 72. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2015. ... The lifting-body program came to an official end in 1975. Yet like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, the concept has appeared several times since then in proposed NASA spacecraft. When the Langley Research Center revealed its HL-20 design for an emergency crew return vehicle or small mini-Shuttle in 1990, the shape was remarkably similar to the HL-10 and X-24A designs... This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links[edit]

• Dream ChaseratSierra Space