SANDUSKY, Ohio — Ohio, home of the Wright Brothers, is known as the “Birthplace of Aviation.” But as we were reminded at an event on Thursday, February 1, the state also has some serious space flights.
That day, NASA and Colorado-based Sierra Space company told reporters, dream catchera private space plane planned to fly its first mission into space international space station (ISS) later this year.
The incident took place at NASA Neil Armstrong Testing Facility here in Sandusky. The robotic Dream Chaser and its cargo module (vehicles called “Tenacity” and “Shooting Star”, respectively) were stacked vertically as they were at launch. The duo was 55 feet (16.8 meters) tall; which was roughly the length of a school bus!
Relating to: Dream Chaser enters final testing ahead of first space flight in 2024
“Translating bold dreams into bold action requires a tremendous amount of perseverance, tenacity, confidence, determination and passion. That’s why we name our products after these emotional qualities that get you through tough times,” says former NASA astronaut Tom. Marshburn, now Sierra Space’s chief medical officer, said at Thursday’s event.
“Building perseverance has been difficult,” he added. “There were a lot of things we came up with that didn’t always work right the first time. And we’ve learned a lot that Tenacity has given us over the last six years, so there was no other name.”
Tenacity’s highly anticipated first flight will carry cargo to the ISS for NASA. This uncrewed demonstration mission will help advance science in space and continue to foster a thriving economy in low Earth orbit.
But before the inaugural journey can begin, Perseverance and Shooting Star must complete various tests. That’s what’s happening here in Sandusky: The spacecraft is being tested at NASA headquarters’ Mechanical Vibration Facility. These trials expose the vehicles to a variety of harsh environments they would encounter during a mission, such as the tremors they would encounter at launch and the tremors atop the United Launch Alliance. Vulcan Centaur rocket.
“All of the testing we’ve done over the last six years, plus developmental testing, all of the autonomy and aerodynamics testing; the remaining testing is environmental testing of what the vehicle will actually see on the launch pad during the Vulcan ascent,” Sierra said. Space CEO Tom Vice said on Thursday. “The testing is associated with replicating the space environment, the vacuum of space; this will be done in a thermal vacuum chamber.”
Sierra Space Received Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS2)) multi-year C.Agreement from NASA Providing at least six ISS cargo delivery missions in 2016. According to a NASA’s latest statementThis is part of ongoing efforts to increase commercial resupply options in low Earth orbit.
NASA continues to collaborate with the US private sector on transporting cargo and astronauts to the station. For example, the agency signed commercial crew agreements with Boeing and SpaceX in 2014. Elon Musk’s company has already launched seven operational crewed missions to the ISS and is currently getting ready for number eight. (On the other hand, Boeing aims to launch the first manned test flight of the Starliner capsule this spring.)
NASA officials and exploration advocates say increased involvement of private players in resupplying the ISS could greatly increase returns from science in the future.
“They continue the crux of the zero-gravity research that the ISS is doing now and we hope to do in the future, and we’re talking about new materials,” Marshburn said.
“Many people don’t realize that the cytoskeletal structure of both human cells and bacteria actually changes in weightlessness, changing the way they respond,” he added. “NASA has been able to develop new vaccines, crystal growth, all kinds of things you can do in weightlessness. I think we’re in the first few steps of a whole new world with what we can do once we start flying.”
Shooting Star will remain true to its name and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere after its single mission is completed, while Tenacity will land and prepare for another liftoff. Indeed, the space plane is designed as follows: Fly up to 15 missions.
Tenacity will carry more than 7,800 pounds (3,540 kilograms) of cargo on its first flight, but could carry up to 11,500 pounds (5,215 kg) on future missions. The spacecraft is designed to bring home more than 3,500 pounds (1,590 kg) of cargo and experimental samples, while more than 8,700 pounds (3,950 kg) of debris can be thrown into the cargo module upon re-entry.
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The makers of Dream Chaser aimed to create something that was both very reusable and very reliable.
“If we are a company that wants to benefit life on Earth, we want to understand what the impact is on that,” Vice said. “And so we designed this vehicle to use a very specific fuel; hydrogen peroxide and refined kerosene, so we’re not using really hazardous substances. And that’s why it’s so unique; we think the ability to fly multiple times with a single vehicle. The vehicle moves a smaller foot each time we fly.” It allows us to have the trace.”
Tenacity and Shooting Star are planned to be launched from Space Launch Complex 41 in the first half of this year. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After liftoff, teams from Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser Mission Control Center in Louisville, Colorado, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and NASA Johnson Space Center The team in Houston will work together to monitor the flight, control the spacecraft and conduct in-orbit demonstrations to help validate the system for future missions.
“The research being done on the space station is tremendous, but it’s broader than that; the learning of this massive community increases our ability to travel to and from space and learn from it,” said Phil Dempsey, transportation integration manager for NASA’s International Space Station Program. he said during Thursday’s event.
“There are people sitting at home, you ask them a question — why would I go and do this, why should our taxes go to this? It’s more the learning and learning that we have as an industry, rather than any individual reason,” Dempsey said, “as humanity because of space travel and the difficulty of space travel.” “It adds to what we can do as an overall group of people here on Earth as we seek to do things off Earth or advance work on Earth or research that benefits us.”