Dream Chaser

The Dream Chaser ( German: Dream Hunters ) is a planned, designed as a lifting body spaceplane Company SpaceDev, which was but now taken over by the Sierra Nevada Corporation. Dream Chaser is funded by the programs COTS, CCDev and NASA CCiCap and, according to the expiry of the shuttle fleet astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS ) position.

COTS

The COTS program of NASA stipulates that from 2010 to 2015 to supply the ISS is ensured. As the shuttle program was discontinued in 2011, NASA can not perform a manned crew exchange. It is not yet sure which vehicle will be used.

Specifications

The Dream Chaser will launch vertically from the ground. A launcher is a modified version of the Atlas V is provided. The Dream Chaser will be able to carry six to eight passengers or cargo. The design of the Dream Chaser is based on the prototype HL- 20, which was configured in the late eighties as a support vehicle for the planned U.S. space station Freedom, but goes back to a Soviet design from the early 1980s ( BOR).

History of development

The first engine tests have been passed successfully. Was successfully met on 17 December 2010 with the dropping of a 1:7 model of the Dream Chaser and the subsequent landing after a gliding phase, a further milestone in the development.

In May and August 2013 roll tests were made ​​with a 1:1 prototypes at Dryden Flight Research Center / U.S.. On 26 October 2013, the first free flight was conducted at a test drop from a helicopter. However, when landing, Dream Chaser overturned and damaged, because the left landing gear was not extended.

A first one-day and unmanned test flight in Earth orbit is scheduled for November 2016. 2017 then a follow up with a Sierra Nevada - astronauts and a NASA astronaut manned test flight, during which a coupling with the ISS is planned.