Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)

Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)

Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)

Reusable automated cargo lifting-body spaceplane.

Created: 2018-11-22

Updated: 2021-08-24

Company - Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)

Founded
Country
1963
USA
Website
Sierra Nevada Corp
Social
Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)

Service - Dream Chaser, Shooting Star

Classification
Space Station
Category
Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Commercial Space Station
Status
3) Development
First launch
2019

Another key element of Dream Chaser is a cargo module, called Shooting Star, that is attached to the aft end of Dream Chaser. That module gives the vehicle additional capacity for transporting cargo to the station as well as a means of disposing cargo from the station. We’ve worked on designs that would allow it to even carry a couple of astronauts in either a low Earth orbit standalone mission or to supplement ISS capabilities or even to do free-flying missions. The module also be repurposed for cislunar missions, such as transporting cargo to NASA’s lunar Gateway.

Awarded a contract to repurpose SNC’s Shooting Star transport vehicle as a proposed commercial solution for an Unmanned Orbital Outpost – essentially a scalable, autonomous space station for experiments and logistics demonstrations – by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). SNC’s Shooting Star transport vehicle serves as the core structure for the proposed design.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is continuing to advance its development of the company’s LIFE™ Habitat (Large Inflatable Fabric Environment) under Phase 3 of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) Appendix A habitat program. In Phase 3, NASA has asked companies to focus on habitat design concepts that could be used on the lunar surface or as a Mars transportation habitat to test at the Gateway. SNC’s LIFE habitat is unique in that it launches on a conventional rocket and inflates on-orbit to a large structure that is three stories tall, and 27 feet in diameter. It can comfortably sleep four astronauts, with additional room for science experiments, exercise equipment, a medical center and SNC’s Astro Garden® system, which the company is developing as an option to grow fresh produce for astronauts on long-duration space missions.

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.

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