Dream Chaser

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)

In Dec 2018 the Cargo version of Dreamchaser has had the full NASA go ahead ready for around 2021 to carry up to 5,500 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station and return 1,850 kilograms to Earth in a runway landing. The cargo module, which burns up on reentry, can dispose of an additional 3,400 kilograms of cargo.

At first sight the Dream Chaser looks like a smaller version of the Space Shuttle, the vehicle it is designed to replace. In fact its origins can be traced back to the designs for Nasa's unfinished HL-20, a winged craft that was to serve as the lifeboat for the International Space Station.

"Space is hard and we know that"

Mark Sirangelo, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)

Cargo Dream Chaser - with foldable wings

In NASA awarded SNC for a cargo version, it should see its first launch in 2019 to resupply the International Space Station ISS between 2019 through to 2024.

ESA will be providing the International Berthing and Docking Mechanism (IBDM) for the cargo version and hopes a folded wing version will launch from Kourou with a European launcher rocket one day.

Scaled Dream Chaser

This Oct 2014 proposal is a smaller version of the 'Dream Chaser' (see below) to be launched by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen's Stratolaunch

The Stratolaunch carrier plane powered by six Boeing 747 engines "the largest aircraft ever constructed,"

Black Ice space plane, The 'scaled' version of the Dream Chaser will be able to carry three people into space or serve a variety of unmanned cargo or research missions.

Dream Chaser

  • The first Dream Chaser orbital launch is now scheduled for November 2016. (was 2015) Now on hold since losing its NASA contract Sept 2014

  • Atlas V launch vehicle

    • 7 total crew capacity

    • $100m Nasa funding so far*

    • Runway landings (low G)

Like the shuttle, Dream Chaser's primary mission is to carry crew and cargo into low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station. Its developer, the Sierra Nevada Corporation, says the re-usable craft will be able to land on conventional runways.

Pictured above left is a scale model of Nasa's HL-20, the Dream Chaser's inspiration. On the right, a wire-frame image, again of the HL-20. Before the Dream Chaser launches in 2016!, it needs to pass a safety checklist that includes, atmospheric, orbital and crew-rated testing.

SNC is now working with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).