Thu, Dec 04, 2014
Test Marks Completion Of CCiCap Milestone 15a
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has successfully completed a major milestone relating to the Reaction Control System (RCS) propulsion risk reduction for the Dream Chaser Space System, known as Milestone 15a. The achievement further matures the design toward Critical Design Review (CDR) and positions SNC one step closer to concluding all milestones laid out in NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreement. According to a company news release, to date, SNC has received 96 percent of the total award value of the CCiCap agreement, having successfully completed 12 of 13 milestones.
Milestone 15a builds on SNC’s previous propulsion system innovation and development maturity by implementing a compact prototype thruster operating in a vacuum chamber to simulate an on-orbit environment. The RCS, which is being designed and tested by SNC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC), provides precise on-orbit control of the Dream Chaser spacecraft for many critical maneuvers including docking of the Dream Chaser spacecraft to destinations in low-Earth orbit. The RCS also supports the unique capability of the Dream Chaser to safely return from orbit and land on any designated runway.
“Safety is paramount in the design of the Dream Chaser Space System,” said Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems. “It is driven by reliability, rigorous quality assurance, consistent performance, extensive testing, and robust analysis. In passing this milestone, we are able to validate our performance and safety, while decreasing the risk for this critical propulsion system. Reaching this milestone propels us even closer toward the Critical Design Review and orbital flight of our complete system.”
On August 19, 2013, SNC and NASA amended their original CCiCap Space Act Agreement to add Milestones 15a. The optional milestone provided critical hardware demonstration of the RCS technology to support crewed or uncrewed missions of the Dream Chaser Space System architecture.
(Image provided by Sierra Nevada Corp)
More News
Convective SIGMET A weather advisory concerning convective weather significant to the safety of all aircraft. Convective SIGMETs are issued for tornadoes, lines of thunderstorms, e>[...]
Aero Linx: United Flying Octogenarians WELCOME to a most extraordinary group of aviators, the United Flying Octogenarians (UFO). Founded in 1982 with just a handful of pilots, we h>[...]
Pilot’s Decision To Attempt Takeoff With Frost Covering The Airplane’s Wings Analysis: The pilot of the light sport airplane was preparing to depart for a cross-country>[...]
“We’ve paid for the cable line’s repair for the customer and have apologized for the inconvenience this caused them...” Source: Some followup info from an A>[...]
Coupled Approach An instrument approach performed by the aircraft autopilot, and/or visually depicted on the flight director, which is receiving position information and/or steerin>[...]
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (12.01.25): Convective SIGMET
See All