NASA contract for Sierra Nevada
The Dream Chaser will ferry supplies to the space station.
Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville won a piece of a multibilliondollar NASA contract Thursday to ferry supplies to and from the International Space Station starting in 2019.
Space Systems’ win comes just 16 months after parent company Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser was left out in the cold in bidding for NASA’s new crewed space- taxi program, a disappointing loss that the Nevada- based corporation unsuccessfully protested.
For Space Systems chief Mark Sirangelo, winning part of the cargo contract was not so much vindication as “satisfaction.”
“The team I have around me could have all decided to go home, get other jobs. What we saw is a group of people saying, ‘ We almost won the Super Bowl, and we’re not going to go back and have a losing season. We’re going to make sure that next time out, we win,’ ” he said. “This competition is quite a bit bigger than the one we lost — we came back and won a contract that has a $ 14 billion potential to it.”
Sierra Nevada, and its cargo modified Dream Chaser, was one of three companies to win a Com---
mercial Resupply Services 2 contract, joining existing NASA cargo haulers Orbital ATK of Dulles, Va., and SpaceX, the privately held California company headed by billionaire Elon Musk.
The uncrewed, reusable Dream Chaser Cargo System will be guaranteed at least six trips to the space station between 2019 and 2024, NASA officials said in a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. SpaceX and Orbital also get at least six flights each.
The total value on the contracts will depend on the type of missions ordered, officials said. They declined to give an estimate other than to say the final tally should be “nowhere near” the maximum approved amount of $ 14 billion.
Sierra Nevada said it expects to “significantly” expand operations in Colorado and throughout the U. S. to support the contract requirements.
The Dream Chaser program will continue to be based in Louisville, and the spacecraft will be assembled in Colorado.
“In such amajor competition, we are truly humbled by the show of confidence in SNC and look forward to successfully demonstrating the extensive capabilities of the Dream Chaser spacecraft to the world,” Sierra Nevada Corp. president Eren Ozmen said in a statement. “SNC’s receipt of this award is an American Dream come true for all of us.”
None of the new cargo missions have been scheduled, although the first orders are likely to come this year, NASA officials said.
NASA intends to mix and match missions from all three companies, choosing the spacecraft based on the space station’s needs. Approximately four missions will occur every year.
Sirangelo said Dream Chaser will be ready in time for the first launch under the new contracts, anticipated in late 2019.
“We don’t have one ship in the Navy. We don’t have one plane in the Air Force — having a variety of spacecraft, that’s a smart move,” Sirangelo said. “NASA did it right this time.”
While declining to detail the rationale for their selections, NASA officials did have good things to say about what Dream Chaser’s gentler landings and rapid return of science experiments could mean for the space station program.
Sirangelo said their mini space shuttle is the “only vehicle that can meet all the missions” NASA requested, whether that’s ferrying pressurized or unpressurized cargo to the station, disposing of the space station’s trash upon re- entry or bringing science experiments safely back to Earth. It also can dock with the station in multiple ways.
“The other two guys are capsules, like we sent to the moon. They land in the ocean or the desert. We land on a runway, any runway a 737 can land on,” Sirangelo said. “Within a few hours of leaving the space station, we can be on the ground in Florida and they can be unloading the critical ( experiments).”
Sierra Nevada’s win is truly good news for the whole Colorado aerospace industry, said Edgar Johansson, president of the Colorado Space Business Roundtable.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, at its Waterton Canyon campus in Jefferson County, is among the local companies that have been directly involved in the Dream Chaser’s development. The rocket that launches the shuttle is built by Centennial- based United Launch Alliance.
“We are the No. 2 space state in the U. S., and this is just more proof of why we’re in the top tier— Sierra Nevada is winning NASA contracts, and they’re right here in Colorado,” Johansson said.
“It means so much for the state and for Sierra Nevada and for the whole aerospace community,” he said. “We are all celebrating.”