Reusable automated cargo lifting-body spaceplane. Space Station plans unveiled.
Created: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2022-10-13
Company - Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)
Service - Dream Chaser, Shooting Star
- Classification
- Space Stations & Habitats
- Category
- Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Commercial Space Station
- Fields
- Food for Space
- Status
- 3) Development
- First launch
- 2019
Plans to launch a commercial space station with inflatable human habitats within seven years. The company's orbiting space station has no name yet. The space station is a configuration of multiple large inflatable LIFE™ habitats that can be serviced by both cargo and crew carrying Dream Chaser® spaceplanes. SNC also released that a crewed Dream Chaser will be able to shuttle private astronauts and to serve as the only vehicle capable of rescuing astronauts from space destinations and returning them to Earth via a safe and speedy runway landing.
The eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS) investigation uses hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without soil or other growth media. Video and still images enable evaluation of multiple independent growth chambers for the entire plant life cycle from seed germination through maturity. Results could identify suitable methods to produce crops on a larger scale for future space missions.
In 2022, announced the successful completion of its $3.0M Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III Test Readiness Review (TRR) with NASA for its carbothermal reduction technology. The Sierra Space system, developed over multiple contracts with NASA, processes and extracts oxygen from minerals in lunar regolith (soil) for use as astronaut life support and in propellant manufacturing in space. Producing oxygen on the moon is a key component for a sustained presence in space and reduces costs by not having to transport the critical element to space on launch.
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