Jane Edwards
Sierra Nevada Corp. has completed the third integration review for the Dream Chaser spacecraft as part of the company’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA.
The company said Thursday the integration assessment for the space vehicle covers the completion of the agency’s phase 1 safety evaluation and NASA’s approval of 16 safety data packages and 32 hazard reports and compliance of the space vehicle’s architectural design with the contract’s requirements.
The initial phase safety review process evaluated Dream Scape’s ground, flight, launch and landing operations.
“We are proud of this accomplishment and are well on our way towards completing the next critical milestone and the remaining developmental phases,†said Steve Lindsey, vice president of space exploration systems for SNC’s space systems business area.
The third integration milestone also covered range safety plans, delivery of over 100 design documents to NASA, licensing process with agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission as well as outside subcontracts and agreements.
NASA selected SNC, SpaceX and Orbital ATK in January 2016 for the CRS-2 contracts.
Dream Scape is a reusable space vehicle that will perform at least six cargo flights to and from the International Space Station from 2019 through 2024 under the CRS-2 contract and is designed to deliver over 12,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory for each mission.
The space vehicle is under the testing phase at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California and is scheduled to undergo its second flight trial later this year.
