[SatNews] Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC’s) Space Systems and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) announce the signing of a new Dream Chaser®program cooperation during the U.S. German Aerospace Roundtable (UGART) at the 31st annual Space Symposium hosted by the Space Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“We highly value our partnership with the German Aerospace Center,” said Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president, SNC’s Space Systems. “This relationship is a great example of the best-in-industry and government agency partnerships, both domestic and international, that we have sought. Our Dream Team will continue the advancement of the Dream Chaser, which is a true global program. We look forward to the next phase of our cooperation with DLR as we enter this new agreement.”
The cooperation, which was entered into today, builds upon the successful one-year Dream Chaser technical agreement signed in 2013. The new agreement, which extends through 2017, will continue the valuable developmental work completed while identifying new and advanced technologies to pursue in order to further advance the crewed and uncrewed Dream Chaser spacecraft as a flexible low-Earth orbit (LEO) space transportation system for a variety of missions and customers. One of the cooperative activities completed this year was the Dream Chaser for European Utilization (DC4EU) study performed by SNC, OHB Systems AG (OHB) and DLR.
“We are pleased to continue to work together with SNC as part of their Dream Chaser team,” said Prof. Jan Woerner, chairman of the executive board of DLR. “We recognize the significant value of the Dream Chaser, especially for LEO and we look forward to working together for new applications. The versatility of the Dream Chaser, crewed or uncrewed, allows for multiple applications such as transportation of cargo and humans as well as direct use for activities such as removing space debris.“
SNC’s Dream Chaser is a multi-mission-capable space utility vehicle that is able to flexibly operate as an independent science platform, logistics enabler or orbital servicing vehicle with the ability to deploy, retrieve, repair, replace, refuel or assemble items in space. Dream Chaser provides the only reusable, lifting-body spacecraft with a commercial runway landing capability, anywhere in the world – offering safe, affordable, flexible and reliable transportation to space.
