Sierra space

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Is the Dream Chaser space plane ever going to launch into orbit?

Dream Chaser, iss, NASA, Sierra space, Space / /

“We wanted to have a fuel system that was green instead of using hypergolics, so we could land it on a runway and we could walk up to the vehicle without being in hazmat suits,” Tom Vice, then Sierra’s chief executive, told Ars in late 2023. “That was hard, I have to say.”

Apparently it still is because, according to Weigel, the process to finish testing of the propulsion system and certify it for an uncrewed spaceflight remains ongoing.

“We still have some of our integrated safety reviews to do, and we’re in the process with updating both of our schedules to try to understand where does that really put us,” she said. “And so Sierra’s working on that, and so I need to wait and just get information back from them to see where they think some of that work lines out.”

First mission may not berth with ISS

According to one source, Sierra is considering a modification to its first mission to shorten the certification period.

The company had planned to fly the vehicle close enough to the space station such that it could be captured and berthed to the orbiting laboratory. One option now under consideration is a mission that would bring Dream Chaser close enough to the station to test key elements of the vehicle in flight but not have it berth.

This would increase confidence in the spacecraft’s propulsion system and provide the data NASA and partner space agencies need to clear the vehicle to approach and berth with the station on its second flight. However, this would require a modification of the company’s contract with NASA, and a final decision has not yet been reached on whether to perform a flyby mission before an actual berthing.

It appears highly unlikely that Dream Chaser will be ready for its debut spaceflight this year for these technical reasons. Another challenge is the availability of its Vulcan launch vehicle. After years of delays, Vulcan is finally due to make its first national security launch as early as this coming Sunday. Assuming this launch is successful, Vulcan has a busy manifest in the coming months for the US Space Force.

Given this, it is uncertain when a Vulcan launch vehicle will become available for Dream Chaser, which was initially designated to fly on Vulcan’s second flight. However, because Dream Chaser was not ready last fall, that rocket flew with a mass simulator on this second launch, back in October 2024.

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Sierra Space is blowing up stuff to prove inflatable habitats are safe

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Sierra Space's 300 cubic meter inflatable habitat burst at 77 psi, five times the pressure it would need to handle in space.

Enlarge / Sierra Space’s 300 cubic meter inflatable habitat burst at 77 psi, five times the pressure it would need to handle in space.

Sierra Space says it has demonstrated in a ground test that a full-scale inflatable habitat for a future space station can meet NASA’s recommended safety standards, clearing a technical gate on the road toward building a commercial outpost in low-Earth orbit.

During a December test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Sierra Space’s 300 cubic meter inflatable structure withstood five times the pressure it would need to handle in space. The so-called ultimate burst pressure test was designed to measure the limits of the soft goods technology Sierra Space is developing alongside ILC Dover, which also built spacesuits for NASA.

The 27-foot-diameter (8.2-meter) inflatable structure burst at 77 psi, exceeding NASA’s recommended safety standard of 60.8 psi, which is four times the module’s real-life operating pressure at 15.2 psi.

Perhaps best known for developing the Dream Chaser spaceplane, Colorado-based Sierra Space also manufactures satellites and is one of several companies in the mix for helping build a new commercial space station to replace the International Space Station.

“We’re ecstatic over the results,” said Shawn Buckley, senior director of engineering and chief technologist for Sierra Space’s EarthSpace Systems division. “Transitioning from our from our sub-scale articles, we’ve done a series of tests to validate our architecture. And being able to go into our first full-scale LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) burst test, to meet the safety factor by 27 percent, was just an amazing accomplishment by the team.”

Sierra Space is partnering with Blue Origin on a commercial space station concept called Orbital Reef. If the companies see it to fruition, Orbital Reef could become a hub for research, manufacturing, tourism, and other applications in low-Earth orbit.

The inflatable technology from Sierra Space is similar to the work performed by Bigelow Aerospace, which pioneered inflatable habitat tech for more than 20 years before laying off its entire workforce in 2020. Buckley worked on Bigelow’s inflatable habitat technology for more than 10 years, then joined Lockheed Martin for two years. In 2022, he took a leadership position overseeing Sierra Space’s space station work.

Bigelow’s design centered on a 330 cubic meter inflatable habitat, while Sierra Space’s design is slightly smaller in volume. Buckley said he couldn’t state definitively whether the LIFE burst test in December was the largest such test of an inflatable habitat design, due to restrictions about what he could say about his previous work at other companies.

“I will say that this is the largest full-scale habitat that has been publicly announced in this architecture being tested,” he told Ars in an interview.

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