Sierra Nevada unveils cargo-only Dream Chaser with folding wings

The unmanned cargo-only version of the Dream Chaser spacecraft that Sierra Nevada Corp. unveiled Tuesday will have folding wings and an added cargo module attached to the back.

The changes from the crewed version of Dream Chaser, company officials said, will help add to the vehicle’s versatility as SNC vies for an estimated $14 billion in NASA contracts to carry supplies and experiments to the International Space Station from 2018 to 2024.

Landing a piece of the NASA cargo contracts would be a big boost for SNC, which bases its Space Systems division in Louisville. The company lost out last year to Boeing and SpaceX for $6.8 billion worth of contracts to carry NASA astronauts to the ISS.

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SNC Space Systems employs between 250 and 300 people at its Louisville headquarters after laying off about 90 following the NASA Commercial Crew decision. An SNC spokesperson on Tuesday said the company would likely add 300 to 400 jobs in Louisville if it wins a piece of the cargo contracts, which are to be awarded in June.

SNC officials, who conducted a teleconference with media from Washington, were enthusiastic Tuesday about the fact that much of the work done for the crewed version of Dream Chaser applies to the cargo version due to their identical form. But there are plenty of key differences between the two, most notably the foldable wings.

While the crewed version is designed to fly into space atop an Atlas 5 rocket, the foldable wings allow the cargo-only version to fit within a standard fairing that can attach to a variety of launch systems, such as the Ariane 5 or 6.

The added cargo module, meanwhile, increases the payloads that can be carried to and from the ISS. All of the human factors have also been removed from the interior of the cargo-only vehicle to maximize cargo space. Officials touted the vehicle’s ability to exceed NASA’s requirements for the amount of both pressurized and unpressurized cargo that can be ferried to and from the station.

“It’s capable of meeting all of NASA’s cargo requirements within the same system,” said Mark Sirangelo, who heads SNC Space Systems.

SNC officials have long touted Dream Chaser’s cargo-carrying advantages, particularly its gentle re-entry and runway landing capabilities that help protect cargo like scientific experiments that have been conducted in space. Officials on Tuesday also spoke highly of the quick access Dream Chaser will allow to cargo upon landing. All cargo will be able to be retrieved from the spacecraft within 24 hours of landing, versus the NASA requirement of 14 days.

SNC, which is still working on its crewed capabilities under its old Commercial Crew contract with NASA, has a second test flight for Dream Chaser coming later this year. The composite structure of the first vehicle that will go into orbit is being built at Lockheed Martin and is slated for completion by April, at which time it will be returned to Louisville and outfitted for flight by 2018.

SNC officials said Tuesday that the tweaks to the cargo-only version of Dream Chaser don’t mean the company is giving up on crewed flight, saying the new aspects of Dream Chaser will be transferrable to crewed flight should the company be able to strike a deal with NASA in the future.

“We actually think we’re enhancing and accelerating that crewed capability,” Sirangelo said.