Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Dream Chaser engineering test article passed a successful Captive Carry test at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center this week as part of the Phase Two flight test efforts to advance Dream Chaser progress toward orbital flight.
These activities are being conducted through a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP), although the Phase Two flight tests will also be highly supportive of, and executed in parallel with continued work being done by SNC under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) contract. The Dream Chaser test vehicle has been upgraded to include several components being integrated into the Dream Chaser Cargo System design, allowing Phase Two tests to act as a bridge between previous work with CCP and the next-generation vehicle currently under development for cargo resupply missions.
During Captive Carry test #1, a Columbia Helicopters Model 234-UT Chinook helicopter successfully carried the Dream Chaser to the same altitude and flight conditions Dream Chaser experiences before release on a Free Flight test. The SNC Mission Control Center team sent commands to Dream Chaser, monitored performance and collected critical test data designed to allow the team to refine Dream Chaser systems for peak performance on the actual Free Flight test day. The Captive Carry test obtained data, evaluated systems such as radar altimeters, flush air data system, air data probes, navigation system, as well as overall system performance in a flight environment.
Successful data analysis, flight crew and flight control team proficiency, are critical ingredients needed for Certification of Flight Readiness. All technical info from the Captive Carry flight tests will be evaluated by the SNC engineering team and shared with NASA counterparts.
This Captive Carry test is one of two scheduled for 2017. Another Captive Carry test, designated Captive Carry #2, will incorporate fine tuning needs or lessons learned from today’s test flight. A fully successful Captive Carry #2 test, once completed, clears the way for the Dream Chaser Free Flight test. The Free Flight test is scheduled for later this year.
Lee “Bru” Archambault, SNC’s director of flight operations for the Dream Chaser program, stated that the company is pleased with results from the Captive Carry test, and everything points toward to a successful test with useful data for the next round of testing.
Steve Lindsey, VP of Space Exploration Systems for SNC, added that this test is another indication the Dream Chaser is on track for meeting the firm's key milestones on the way to orbital spaceflight.
