Company - Sierra Space (Sierra Nevada Corp, SNC)
Product/Service - Dream Chaser, Shooting Star
- Classification
- Cargo Transportation & Landers
- Category
- Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Transport Service (Re-Entry)
Microgravity Flight Service (Reusable Satellite)
- Fields
- Space Capsule
Reusable
Automated Microgravity Laboratory
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2025
Dream Chaser
The First-Ever Winged Commercial Spaceplane
- Capable of gentle 1.5G runway landings, ideal for precious cargo, especially human passengers.
- Accommodates more than 12,000 pounds of supplies and equipment.
- NASA resupply missions for the International Space Station begin in 2023.
- Configuration intended for up to seven crewmembers, plus critical supplies.
- Compatible with a wide array of current and future launch vehicles.
Sierra Space completes first Dream Chaser, SpaceNews, 2023-11-06.
Sierra Space expands spaceplane fleet with in-house mission control, 2024-11-08.
- The long-awaited inaugural cargo flight of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane has been delayed to no earlier than May 2025.
- Sierra Space is moving forward with its second cargo spaceplane, Reverence, alongside work on an array of inflatable habitats and other structures to meet growing demand for in-space infrastructure.
- Adjacent to the factory floor, Sierra Space’s new, in-house mission control center will support Dream Chaser operations.
Human Spaceflight Center
Status Comment / Notes
Product/Service - Orbital Reef, LIFE Habitat
- Classification
- Space Stations & Habitats
- Category
- Commercial Space Station
- Fields
- Commercial ISS Module
Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2026
Orbital Reef
LIFE Habitat (Large Integrated Flexible Environment)
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 two companies announced Aug. 21 that Redwire will provide a set of equipment that will be installed on a Sierra Space inflatable module known as Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE). That “pathfinder” module will be launched later this decade for commercial pharmaceutical and other biotech research.
- In an interview, Mike Gold, chief growth officer of Redwire, called the agreement the first of its kind. “For the first time, a private sector company has contracted with another private sector company for substantive microgravity research and development hardware for pharmaceutical development.”
- Volume: 5000 m3
- Length: 22m
- Diameter: 19m
- Fairing: 9m
- Advancements
- Increased Crew Capabilities
- Increased Volume Allocations
- Increased Layout Capabilities
- Softgoods Optimization
- Truss Optimization
- ECLSS Systems Optimization
- Power & Thermal Optimization
News
- NASA will partner with seven U.S. companies to meet future commercial and government needs, ultimately benefitting human spaceflight and the U.S. commercial low Earth orbit economy. Through unfunded Space Act Agreements, the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) is designed to advance commercial space-related efforts through NASA contributions of technical expertise, assessments, lessons learned, technologies, and data. Sierra Space is collaborating with NASA for the development of the company’s commercial low Earth orbit ecosystem, including next-generation space transportation, in-space infrastructure, and expandable and tailorable space facilities providing a human presence in low Earth orbit.
- At an investor conference in June 2023, Sierra Space was planning a launch of a standalone LIFE module as a “pathfinder” for future commercial space stations as soon as the end of 2026. That would be used, he said, for commercial pharmaceutical and other biotech research.
- Sierra Space tests full-scale inflatable module, SpaceNews, 2024-01-22.
Created: 2023-02-18
Updated: 2024-07-15
Product/Service - Veggie, XROOTS
- Classification
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Category
- In-Space Manufacturing
- Fields
- Food for Space
- Status
- Demonstrated
- First launch
- 2014
Space Food
In March of 2014, Veggie, a modularly designed vegetable production plant growth unit, developed and built in partnership with Sierra Space and Kennedy Space Center, was integrated by NASA aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This system provided sufficient lighting for plant growth making it possible for to successfully grow red romaine lettuce. After a safety analysis in 2015, U.S. astronauts were able to eat fresh produce for the first time on-orbit.
Created: 2023-02-18
Updated: 2024-01-22
Product/Service
- Classification
- Space Resources
- Category
- ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization)
Space Resources
Resources - Energy
- Fields
- Oxygen
Hydrogen
Moon
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- Not announced
ISRU
DARPA LunA-10 Program Study, 2023-2024
Lunar Oxygen Production and Energy Storage Node, LSIC Spring Meeting, 2024-04-25.
Created: 2024-01-13
Updated: 2025-01-07
Product/Service - Ghost
- Classification
- Cargo Transportation & Landers
- Category
- Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Transport Service (Re-Entry)
Microgravity Flight Service (Reusable Satellite)
- Fields
- Space Capsule
Reusable
Automated Microgravity Laboratory
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2025
Additional background on Sierra Space Ghost:
- On-orbit time of five years, vehicles are outfitted with pre-determined supplies (a survival kit, inflatable boat, rations, weaponry, etc.) pre-staged on orbit.
- On call-up, the system re-orients and begins re-entry/targeting cycle; the de-orbit motor slows the vehicle to 7,000 meters per second.
- Gravity then captures the vehicle and it begins to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere with the thermal protection shield withstanding temperatures up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once through atmosphere, the shield is then discarded leaving just the requested payload and a parafoil.
- At the right altitude, the parafoil is released and it steers the payload to the required area within 100 meters.
News
- Successful drop test of Axelerator Beta reentry vehicle.
- Sierra Space Ghost Enters Flight Test Enabling Global Payload Delivery in 90 Minutes, 2024-04-08.
- Sierra Space Ghost: Revolutionizing Global Logistics, 2024-10-03. Company Awarded AFRL Contract to Investigate the Delivery of Five-to-Ten-Ton Capacity Containers Anywhere in the World in 90 Minutes.
Created: 2024-02-03
Updated: 2025-01-09
Product/Service
- Classification
- Space Resources
- Category
- ISRU (In Situ Resource Utilization)
- Fields
- Water
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2026
Trash Compaction and Processing System (TCPS)
News:
Created: 2025-01-06
Updated: 2025-01-06
Sources
Most sources should be linked in the texts and headings as revealed by mouse-over, but here are they listed for visibility.
News, Research, Projects and Patents
| Title | Type | Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sustaining Life Beyond Earth: Space Farming Technology for Extended Space Exploration | News | 2024-02-05 | |
| The next and most profound industrial revolution in human history is underway in Low Earth Orbit | News | 2023-01-13 | |
| XROOTS Environmental System: Delivering Sustainability in Space | Article | 2022-10-17 | |
| Building the Space Economy with Sierra Space, York Space Systems, & Orbit Fab (Executive Podcast) | Video | 2022-10-07 | |
| Improving Life on Earth through a Shared Platform in Space | Video | 2022-03-11 | > Tomorrow, the medicine that will save a child's life - will be invented on a shared platform in space. |
| SNC continues Inflatable LIFE Habitat Work for Deep Space Destinations | News | 2020-08-10 | |
| Three companies studying “Orbital Outpost” space station concepts for Defense Department | News | 2020-07-19 | > Three companies have received study contracts from a Defense Department agency regarding concepts for small, uncrewed space stations in low Earth orbit, although none of the awards yet fund spacecraft construction. |
| SNC Selected by the Department of Defense to Design, Develop Unmanned Orbital Outpost Prototype | Project | 2020-07-14 | > 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. |
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