Sierra Nevada (SNC) is set to begin phase two flight tests of its Dream Chaser spacecraft at Nasa’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in California, US.

The Dream Chaser full-scale, flight test vehicle will be transported to Nasa’s AFRC before the test, which will be conducted in partnership with Edwards Air Force Base (AFB).

Dream Chaser programme upgrades and initial hardware testing have already been completed at SNC’s spacecraft assembly facility in Louisville, Colorado.

“Dream Chaser continues to make strong progress toward orbital flight."

Upon its arrival at AFRC, the Dream Chaser will go through a series of pre-flight ground evaluations to verify and validate its system and subsystem designs.     

The spacecraft’s ground testing will be conducted by SNC under a space act agreement with Nasa’s commercial crew programme (CCP).

Sierra Nevada space systems business area corporate vice-president Mark Sirangelo said: “Dream Chaser continues to make strong progress toward orbital flight.

“In addition to phase two flight testing, our on-time completion of the first two milestones under Nasa’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) contract in the last two months positions us well to be on-schedule for orbital operational flight.”

During the upcoming phase two test, Dream Chaser will undergo a series of tests based on its performance shown during its phase one test, including tow-tests, pre-flight tests and free-flight testing.

Additional critical tests will also be conducted to authenticate Dream Chaser’s orbital flight software and calculate the spacecraft's handling and performance characteristics.

Once completed, the pre-flight and post-flight evaluations, as well as other test results will be used to confirm Dream Chaser’s subsonic aerodynamic properties.

The vehicle’s flight software and control system performance requirements will also be confirmed during the tests.

Nasa recently evaluated and fully approved SNC’s detailed approach for getting the Dream Chaser cargo system to the International Space Station (ISS).

To be used for Nasa’s CRS-2 programme, the Dream Chaser will conduct at least six cargo delivery missions to and from the ISS between 2019 and 2024. 

Image: Dream Chaser test vehicle prepares to ship. Photo: courtesy of Sierra Nevada Corporation.