by SANDUSKY, Ohio – Ohio, home of the Wright Brothers, is known as the “Birthplace of Aviation.” But the state also has serious spaceflight bona fides, as we were reminded during Thursday’s (February 1) event.
On that day, NASA and the Colorado-based company, Sierra Space, gave reporters a close look Dream Holderprivate space plane scheduled to fly its first ever mission to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.
The event was held by NASA Neil Armstrong Test Facility here in Sandusky. The robotic Dream Chaser and its cargo module — vehicles named “Tenacity” and “Shooting Star,” respectively — were stacked vertically, as they will be during launch. Both stood 55 feet tall (16.8 meters) – about the length of a school bus!
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“To turn bold dreams into bold action requires an enormous amount of tenacity, perseverance, confidence, determination and passion. And so we name our products after these emotional characteristics that get you through the hard times,” former NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, who is now Sierra Space’s chief medical officer, said during Thursday’s event.
“Building Tenacity was hard,” he said. “There’s a lot we’ve discovered together that never worked right the first time. And we’ve learned a lot that Tenacity has stuck with us over the last six years, so there was no other name.”
Tenacity is expected to launch a cargo to the ISS for NASA with a great start. That uncrewed demonstration mission will help advance science in space and continue to fuel a growing economy in low Earth orbit.
But before the inaugural journey can begin, Tenacity and Shooting Star must pass various tests. That’s what’s happening here in Sandusky: NASA’s center’s Mechanical Vibration Facility is advancing the spacecraft. These tests expose the vehicles to the various harsh environments they will encounter on a mission, such as the jarring they will encounter during launch, which will take place on top of the United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket game.
“All the testing we’ve done over the last six years as well as development testing, all the autonomy and aerodynamics – what’s left is environmental testing launch pad during the Vulcan’s ascent,” Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice said Thursday. “The test is about replicating the environment of space, the vacuum of space; that will be done in the empty thermal chamber.”
Sierra Space received Commercial Replacement Services-2 (CRS2) many years ccontract from NASA in 2016, to provide at least six ISS cargo delivery missions. According to s recently released by NASAthis is part of an ongoing effort to increase the commercial replacement options in low Earth orbit.
NASA continues to work with US private industry to transport cargo and astronauts to the station. For example, the agency signed commercial crew deals with Boeing and SpaceX back in 2014. Elon Musk’s company has already sent seven operational crewed missions to the ISS and preparing for number eight. (Boeing, on the other hand, aims to launch the first crewed test flight of its Starliner capsule this spring.)
The increased involvement of private players in the ISS replacement could boost science returns in a big way down the road, say NASA officials and exploration advocates.
“They are continuing the lifeline for the research in zero g that the ISS is doing now and that we hope to do for the future, and we are talking about new materials,” said Marshburn.
“Many people don’t realize that the cytoskeletal structure of both human cells and bacteria changes with weightlessness and changes how they react,” he said. “NASA has been able to develop new vaccines, grow crystals, all kinds of things you can do in weightlessness. I think we’re just at the first few steps in a brand new world with what we’ll be able to do someday only. we begin to fly.”
While Shooting Star will live up to its name and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere after its one mission, Tenacity will land and be ready for another liftoff. In fact, the space plane is designed to fly up to 15 missions.
Stamina will carry more than 7,800 pounds (3,540 kilograms) of cargo on its first flight, although it could throw up to 11,500 pounds (5,215 kg) on future missions. The spacecraft is designed to bring home more than 3,500 pounds (1,590 kg) of cargo samples and experiments, and more than 8,700 pounds (3,950 kg) of garbage can be disposed of in the cargo module on re-entry.
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The builders of Dream Chaser aimed to create something highly reusable and reliable.
“If we are a company that wants to take advantage of life on Earth, we want to understand what its impact is on it,” said Vice. ” And so we designed this vehicle to use even a very special fuel; it’s hydrogen peroxide and refined kerosene, so we don’t really use hazardous materials. the vehicle allows us to have a smaller footprint every time we fly. “
The Tenacity and Shooting Star launches are currently targeted for the first half of this year, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After the breach, teams from Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Mission Control Center in Louisville, Colorado, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and NASA. Johnson Space Center in Houston will work together to monitor the flight, control the spacecraft, and perform in-orbit demonstrations to help certify the system for future missions.
“The research done on a space station is amazing, but more than that, the learning of this huge community is enhancing our ability to travel to and from space and learn from it,” said Phil Dempsey, transportation integration manager for NASA’s International Space Station Program. , said during Thursday’s event.
“People are sitting at home, you ask them – why should I go to do that, why should we go to that with our tax dollars? It’s not so much for one reason, but the learning we have as an industry and as a human race because of space travel and the difficulty of space travel,” Dempsey said. “It helps what we can do as an overall group of people here on Earth as we look to improve things from Earth, or work on Earth or research that benefits us.”
