{"id":39476,"date":"2014-10-25T00:34:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T16:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/snc-reveals-the-dc4science-dream-chaser-variant\/"},"modified":"2014-10-25T00:34:02","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T16:34:02","slug":"snc-reveals-the-dc4science-dream-chaser-variant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/snc-reveals-the-dc4science-dream-chaser-variant\/","title":{"rendered":"SNC reveals the DC4Science Dream Chaser variant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is continuing to realign its Dream Chaser spacecraft\u2019s aspirations, after losing out on future Commercial Crew Program funding from NASA. The company announced the Dream Chaser for Science, or DC4Science, a variant that would offer a free-flying microgravity science laboratory to commercial and international customers.
\nDream Chaser status:<\/p>\n

SNC lost out in NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract award decision last month, with the Agency opting to press forward with funding for SpaceX\u2019s Dragon V2 (now understood to be known simply as \u201cDragon 2\u201d) and Boeing\u2019s CST-100.<\/p>\n

Although SNC has protested the decision, it is unlikely the company will change NASA\u2019s decision. The Agency has already won a legal decision that allows SpaceX and Boeing to proceed with Commercial Crew work while the protest is ongoing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Prior to the protest, SNC had already noted they would press forward with their plans for the Dream Chaser, a spacecraft that was never exclusively designed for transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).<\/p>\n

\u201cSNC has made the decision to continue the development of the Dream Chaser to flight, including a near term bid on NASA\u2019s CRS2 effort,\u201d SNC noted after losing out on CCtCap funding, pointing to a potential cargo role for the vehicle \u2013 which is currently being served by SpaceX and Orbital via the ongoing Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts.<\/p>\n

\"2014-10-01Following the Commercial Crew blow, SNC announced it is looking to join forces with Stratolaunch System\u2019s air launch architecture.<\/p>\n

This would involve a scaled version of the Dream Chaser to fly crewed and automated missions with the air launch carrier. (Another article on this aspiration \u2013  based on new L2 documentation \u2013 will be published next week).<\/p>\n

Such a system could also be utilized for un-crewed space missions, including science missions, light cargo transportation or suborbital point-to-point transportation.<\/p>\n

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\"2014-10-24Science missions has long been an aspiration for the Dream Chaser, as previously intimated by Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of SNC\u2019s Space Systems.<\/p>\n

Mr. Sirangelo noted that DCSS systems can be tuned to specific applications and requirements, such as extended duration flight and fully autonomous missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are looking (at Dream Chaser) as a utilitarian vehicle in space. It has the capability of doing many more missions. We\u2019re actively developing new customers,\u201d he said at the start of the year.<\/p>\n

\"Z3\"The overall goal is to allow the DCSS to play several roles, such as being a space taxi to a private station, payload delivery and retrieval not unlike her Space Shuttle relatives, along with the capability to deploy telescopes or lab experiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose (new customer) markets fall in to three main categories: Working in space, discovering in space and observing from space. We\u2019re looking at satellite deployment, debris removal, being able to deorbit or reposition things in space and potentially being able to construct things in space,\u201d added Mr. Sirangelo at the time.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n