Sierra Nevada Corporation Completes Major Dream Chaser® NASA CCiCap Milestone
Sparks, Nev. (PRWEB) July 22, 2014 -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces it has successfully passed Milestone 9, the Risk Reduction and Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Advancement Testing milestone, for several critical Dream Chaser® systems under NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreement. Milestone 9 culminated in a major comprehensive review of various hardware systems. To date, SNC has received 92 percent of the total award value of the CCiCap agreement.
As defined in the Milestone 9 criteria, SNC completed a series of Risk Reduction and TRL advancements on five major systems on the technologically advanced, Dream Chaser spacecraft lifting-body design. The five specific systems subjected to extensive testing were: Crew Systems, Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS), Structures, Thermal Control (TCS) and Thermal Protection Systems (TPS). The comprehensive set of tests were in addition to the Risk Reduction and TRL advancement tests completed on the Main Propulsion System and Reaction Control System as part of the recently, and successfully, completed CCiCap Milestone 9a, as announced in SNC’s press release of July 8, 2014. The data collected from the more than 3,500 tests completed over a year during these two milestones resulted in continued maturation of the Dream Chaser spacecraft design and significantly retired overall program risk. With the successful completion of Milestones 9 and 9a, SNC has continued to demonstrate, through rigorous testing, that it puts safety first as the team refines the highly capable spacecraft design that will ferry people to and from low-Earth orbit (LEO).
“By thoroughly assessing and mitigating each of the previously identified design risks, SNC is continuing to prove that Dream Chaser is a safe, robust, and reliable spacecraft,” said Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems. “These crucial validations are vital steps in our Critical Design Review and in showing that we have a very advanced and capable spacecraft. This will allow us to quickly and confidently move forward in restoring cutting-edge transportation to low-Earth orbit from the U.S.”
The comprehensive Milestone 9 systems tests that were conducted included:
• TPS: Extensive design qualification testing was conducted at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia through existing Space Act Agreements to validate TPS design performance. This effort included over 350 tests that allowed SNC to select the optimal TPS architecture for Dream Chaser to safely fly through the high-heat-load atmospheric environment during nominal return to Earth as well as during high altitude ascent aborts.
• Structures: Numerous tests were conducted in collaboration with SNC Dream Team member Lockheed Martin at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana. More than 1,500 stress tests were executed on the primary structure to fully validate the strength and reliability of the Dream Chaser advanced composite structure.
• Crew Systems: Multiple tests were performed at SNC’s Space Systems headquarters in Louisville, Colorado. These crew-related assessments included reach and visibility, as well as crew ingress and egress testing in the horizontal and vertical positions, all in the new full-scale Dream Chaser crew cabin mockup. Over 25 tests were conducted totaling more than 90 hours of data.
• ECLSS: Human-in-the-loop tests were performed to analyze temperatures and metabolic rates for crew as part of an in-orbit simulation at Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) of Wisconsin in conjunction with their teammate UTC Aerospace in Connecticut.
• TCS: Both internal and external active thermal control of the spacecraft was successfully demonstrated through rigorous testing by Orbitec at their facilities.
Collectively, this broad array of rigorous testing exemplifies SNC’s commitment to safety, transparency, and technical rigor as part of an overall test-rich spacecraft development strategy. SNC is working with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program during the development of the Dream Chaser -- a safe, innovative, modern, flexible and highly-capable crew transportation system for the 21st Century. Dream Chaser provides the only reusable, human-rated, lifting-body spacecraft with a commercial runway landing capability, anywhere in the world. SNC is on the forefront of the commercial human spaceflight industry, offering safe, reliable and cost-effective crew and critical cargo transportation to and from LEO.
About Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems business area based in Louisville, Colorado, designs and manufactures advanced spacecraft, space vehicles, rocket motors and spacecraft subsystems and components for the U.S. Government, commercial customers as well as for the international market. SNC’s Space Systems has more than 25 years of space heritage and has participated in over 400 successful space missions through the delivery of over 4,000 systems, subsystems and components. During its history, SNC’s Space Systems has concluded over 70 programs for NASA and over 50 other clients. For more information about SNC’s Space Systems visit http://www.sncspace.com and follow us at Facebook.com/SNCSpaceSystems.
About Sierra Nevada Corporation
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, is one of America’s fastest growing private companies based on its significant expansion and reputation for rapid, innovative, and agile technology solutions in electronics, aerospace, avionics, space, propulsion, micro-satellite, aircraft, communications systems and solar energy. Under the leadership of CEO Fatih Ozmen and President Eren Ozmen, SNC has a workforce of over 3,000 personnel in 31 locations in 17 states. SNC’s six unique business areas are dedicated to providing leading-edge solutions to SNC’s dynamic customer base.
SNC is also the Top Woman-Owned Federal Contractor in the United States. Over the last 30 years under the Ozmen’s leadership, SNC has remained focused on providing its customers the very best in diversified technologies to meet their needs and has a strong and proven track record of success. The company continues to focus its growth also on the commercial sector through internal advancements in dual-use applications and outside acquisitions, including the emerging markets of renewable energy, telemedicine, nanotechnology, cyber and net-centric operations. For more information on SNC visit http://www.sncorp.com and follow us at Facebook/Sierra Nevada Corporation.
Sean Wilson, Sierra Nevada Corporation, http://www.sncorp.com, +1 (832) 864-3518, [email protected]
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