Thursday, November 16, 2017

Successful second Dream Chaser test drop



Sierra Nevada and NASA, which has contracted with the company for cargo delivery to the International Space Station, are now reviewing data from the drop test, during which a Chinook helicopter released the spacecraft from an altitude of 12,324 feet. The landing recalled similar returns of the space shuttle, which, like the Dream Chaser, reentered Earth's atmosphere largely as a glider and rolled to a stop on a runway.
During the last two years, Sierra Nevada has worked to reconfigure the inside of Dream Chaser to accommodate cargo only—the crew and cargo versions have 85-percent commonality—and has conducted a couple of “captive carry” tests. However, it hadn’t taken the step toward a critical free-flight test. Now it has. With this milestone behind it, the company now appears to be on track toward a possible 2019 launch of Dream Chaser into space.

Worked a bit better than this first time.  Notice what they call an "anomaly" is the left landing gear failing to fully deploy.  I was disappointed they didn't show the messy landing. Minor damage, repaired, and now the successful second test.

2 comments:

  1. Why a nose "skid" rather than a nose "wheel". Does it act as a brake?

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  2. Air Progress mag in the 60s featured articles about NASA's
    "Lifting bodies". Northrup, I believe among others en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_M2. I thought these were so cool

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