NASA reveals Dream Chaser a better new & improved than Space Shuttle...

When we talk about NASA's pride and joy, nothing comes to mind other than the Space Shuttle, the world's first reusable spacecraft and the first spaceship in history. During its 30 years of operation, this vehicle completed 133 out of 135 orbital launch missions for NASA. It also fulfilled the wish of actually lifting a spaceplane. Since its last mission in 2011 landed at the legendary facility in the heart of Florida's Space Coast, there may not be any spaceplane capable of landing on a low-G runway. However, that's about to change. Sierra Space promises to relive history with a vehicle that represents an uncrewed spiritual successor to the Space Shuttle called the Dream Chaser, with its first variant being the Tenacity. Not only inheriting traditional values, with Tenacity we also see innovation that has the potential to help it become the right hand of NASA. So let's talk about it in today's episode of Great SpaceX. When speaking about the characteristics that make Tenacity different from its predecessor, the Space Shuttle, the most notable point is the size. It can then be said that the Dream Chaser is essentially a mini version of the Space Shuttle. While the Space Shuttle had a volume of 67 cubic meters, not including the airlock, the of the Tenacity is half that at 33 cubic meters, including the spacecraft and cargo module. At 9 meters long, it's roughly a quarter of the total length of the Space Shuttle orbiters. As a result, Sierra Space's spaceplane has less payload capacity than the Space Shuttle, with only 5,500 kilograms to the space station with the help of Sierra Space's Shooting Star service module, equivalent to only a fifth of the payload of NASA's retired vehicle. If small payload capacity was the big issue for the Shuttle's mini version, the company has solved it by making their aircraft faster, highly customizable for a variety of applications, and handling more lifetime payload to still be able to accommodate a significant amount of payload in orbit. The small size also gives the Shuttle's successor some advantages. Firstly, this makes the spacecraft more stable and easier to control, while also supporting a soft landing on the runway at less than 1.5 Gs. So the fragile cargo and even the potential astronauts inside will be more securely protected than in a higher-G landing vehicle like the Space Shuttle. Secondly, it'll be launched in a stowed configuration inside a payload fairing, thus it can reduce ascent loads on the vehicle. So it looks like a cargo that would be placed on multiple rockets and protected by an external shield from debris. In contrast, the Space Shuttle was too large to fit inside anything, so it was externally integrated with an orange external tank that had two solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, on both sides. To put the plane into orbit, a specialized launcher with extremely large thrusts up to 7.8 million pounds is needed. Thus, the Dream Chaser stands out more than its predecessor in terms of flexibility and safety. But there's also another difference other than size between them, and that is the thermal protection system. The aerospace has upgraded it on the Dream Chaser. The TPS tiles play a critical role in any spacecraft's design as a protective layer covering the vehicle against the heat of the sun and the plasma regime during atmospheric re-entry. The Space Shuttle has 24,000 tiles covering partly its body, 12 times that number of tenacity, and it comes from its larger size. The tiles used on both can withstand the scorching heat of 1,650 degrees Celsius, and prevent the vehicle from being destroyed during re-entry. However, the biggest challenge here is how to maintain a stable connection between the TPS tiles and the vehicle. In this regard, Dream Chaser uses room temperature vulcanized silicone to keep the tiles bonded to the vehicle, preventing the tiles from falling off as happened on the Space Shuttle in its early days. Indeed, the STS-1, the first Space Shuttle mission originally scheduled for launch in 1979 encountered delays that led to it being pushed to April of 1981, which was caused by the fact that the tiles on the Columbia often fell off. The situation became so dire that when they removed the vehicle emergently to the Kennedy Space Center for repair, 7,800 of the 31,000 tiles fell off of its body. NASA tried to solve this problem, but the tiles were too much trouble, and they had no alternative. Therefore, the only method then was to delay the launch date of Shuttle Columbia to fix them. To avoid any potential risks related to TPS, besides the adhesive aspect, Dream Chaser engineers are dedicated to updating the tiles. They use innovative and modern technologies, making them stronger, lighter, and cheaper than the ones used for the Shuttle. Additionally, the tiles on the Dream Chaser measure 10 by 10 inches, while for the Shuttle, the measurement was 6 by 6. This allows for fewer overall tiles to be used and helps meet all micrometeorite orbital debris requirements to ensure the TPS is intact for cargo to enter, disembark, and land safely on the runway as well as possible crew missions. Last but not least, Sierra Space has added white cells in addition to black cells to its vehicle to improve its efficiency in removing more heat from the sun while in orbit, which in turn helps cool it. The Dream Chaser spacecraft is currently in the preparation stage for its first launch, specifically SNC Demo-1, scheduled for the first quarter of 2024 under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services II program. According to the announcement of Tom Weiss, Chief Executive at Sierra Space at the Jeffrey Space Summit Online Investor Conference on June 27th, the Tenacity vehicle was going through final integration and testing work at the company's Colorado factory. It is still scheduled to ship later this summer to NASA's Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. There, the spacecraft will undergo thermal vacuum tests before moving to Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations. The spacecraft is expected to be fully integrated with its launcher, the ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket in the December timeframe. Before being moved to the Colorado building at the end of June, on May 31st, the vehicle underwent its first major testing at the company's assembly facility. Engineers will then use electrical power to test the vehicle that will be built in space using solar panels and turn on the flight computer and other components. Tenacity is almost ready for launch, but the success of the schedule does not depend only on it. There are also manifest missions to the International Space Station as well as the status of the Vulcan Centaur rocket. If everything progresses smoothly, the public will have the opportunity to witness the successor to the space shuttle atop the Vulcan Centaur in early 2024. The pair is preparing to carry out a demonstration of a resupply mission to the International Space Station following the CRS-2 contract that was awarded by NASA in January of 2016. This launch was the first of at least seven launches Sierra Space will perform for NASA to deliver cargo to and from the ISS. The Tenacity's readiness is a milestone for the next step of the company, given that Sierra is now working on a second version that'll carry both crew and cargo. It'll have a cargo capacity 40% larger than the first version and can support a crew of six. The plan for the Dream Chasers' next generation is supported by NASA through two phases of the Commercial Crew Development Program. Sierra Space was awarded $20 million in seed money in Phase 1 in February of 2010, and moving into Phase 2, they continue to receive another $80 million. Once Dream Chasers' first landing is successful, the company will enter the phase of recruiting its professional astronaut corps for future crewed flights with an initial group of 12 to 15 people. Accordingly, those astronauts will be trained at a facility that the company is establishing in Florida. That building is also used to train researchers and other private astronauts planning to go to the orbital reef. The Commercial Space Station that Sierra Space is developing in partnership with Blue Origin and several other companies. Everything is still at the threshold of the development stage, but many people are excited about this future crewed version. Both NASA and the public expect it to be the perfect replacement for Boeing's Starliner, which is constantly being delayed in the Commercial Crew Program. By inheriting and promoting the advantages of the space shuttle combined with the application of modern technology, Sierra Space's space plane promises to become NASA's powerful right hand serving ambitious missions in the future, much like SpaceX's Dragon did. And that's it for today, folks! If you want to support our channel and get access to exclusive content, please consider becoming a patron by clicking the link in the description below. We appreciate your generosity and your passion for space exploration. As always, this is Kevin from GreatSpaceX, and until next time, keep looking up!