NASA Dream Chaser system: Manufactured by Sierra Space, the Dream Chaser cargo system consists of two major elements: the Dream Chaser spacecraft and the Shooting Star cargo module. Developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, the Chaser aircraft is designed to be reused up to 15 times, and is modified from the HL-20 spacecraft. Here’s everything you need to know about the Dream Chaser cargo system and why its’s going to be a historic launch from NASA.
“The spaceplane’s cargo module companion, Shooting Star, is designed to support delivery and disposal of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to and from the space station. The cargo module can be used only once and is disposed of prior to re-entry”, NASA said on its website.
“The Dream Chaser system will launch with its wings folded inside a five-meter fairing aboard a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The fairing panels will protect the spacecraft during ascent but are jettisoned once in orbit. Solar arrays mounted on the cargo module and wings of Dream Chaser are deployed during its autonomous rendezvous to the space station”, NASA added.
During its first flight of the Dream Chaser cargo system space aircraft, Sierra Space will conduct in-orbit demonstrations to certify Dream Chaser for future missions. Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Dream Chaser Mission Control Center in Louisville, Colorado, will monitor the flight. Sierra Space flight controllers will control the Dream Chaser spacecraft on the launch pad until the spacecraft is handed over to the Sierra Space ground operations team at NASA Kennedy following landing.
Moreover, one of the best things about the Dream Chaser is that it will remain at the space station for about 45 days before it is uninstalled using Canadarm2. Dream Chaser is prepped for a smooth glide back into Earth’s atmosphere, aiming for a runway touchdown at Kennedy’s Launch and Landing Facility – reminiscent of NASA’s space shuttle landings. This will be a noteworthy event, as it would be the first time since the final shuttle mission in 2011 that a spacecraft has graced the facility’s landing strip.
