Dream Chaser to launch for the ISS
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON: Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), a privately owned defence contractor with space-flight ambitions has said on Wednesday that it had picked United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket to launch its Dream Chaser space plane on cargo missions to the International Space Station.
SNC is one of three companies hired by Nasa, the US space agency, to resupply the orbiting research laboratory under a $14 billion (R214bn) overall award that guarantees each company a minimum of six flights between 2019 and 2024.
The other companies are Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp, known as SpaceX, and Northrop Grumman.
SNC’s Dream Chaser, which resembles the long-retired Space Shuttle, is scheduled to blast off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral in late 2021 aboard a Vulcan Centaur rocket being built by ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The Dream Chaser will land like a conventional aircraft at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, though Sierra Nevada says it has been developed to land on conventional airport runways.
The Dream Chaser will be capable of delivering 5 445kg of food, water, science experiments and other cargo to the space station, SNC says.
In adding SNC as a contractor in 2016, Nasa gave the Sparks, Nevadabased firm a major financial and public relations boost after Nasa selected rival spacecraft by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts between Earth and the space station.
SNC, owned by Turkish immigrants and billionaires Eren Ozmen and her husband Fatih, is part of a group of closely held companies aiming to steal market share from space industry incumbents.
The company makes most of its money by modifying and integrating aviation equipment into existing aircraft and by selling drones and other technology, primarily to the US Air Force.
SNC declined to disclose how much it was paying ULA for the launches.
SNC had chosen ULA over providers from Europe, Japan and the US, including SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Ozmen told reporters after announcing the launch agreement.
Representatives from SpaceX and Blue Origin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
ULA is working towards a first flight of its heavy-lift Vulcan in spring 2021, the same year Bezos aims to fly the New Glenn.
ULA could use its operational Atlas V rocket as a back-up to launch Dream Chaser, ULA’s chief executive, Tory Bruno, told reporters.
“We’re on time with Vulcan, but if something should arise, we’re going to make sure that you fly when you’re ready,” Bruno said.
SNC argues that the Dream Chaser’s ability to land on a traditional runway gives it an edge over rival solutions for delicate scientific research cargo.
SpaceX’s Dragon capsules currently splash down in the Pacific Ocean, while Northrop’s Cygnus capsules burn up as they fall through the atmosphere, which gives Nasa an opportunity to remove trash from the station.