In the face of the great success of SpaceX, the race for the International Space Station is raging among private companies.
If Boeing is constantly in the carpet, Sierra Nevada seems to be moving in the right direction.
The company has developed a cargo ship called Dream Chaser, reminiscent of the good old days of the American space shuttle. Arriving at the Kennedy Space Center, the Dream Chaser could reach the ISS by the end of the year.
Test thermal protection
Named Tenacity, this Dream Chaser is equipped with a single-use cargo module called the Shooting Star, which can carry about 4 tons of cargo in one direction.
The waste it evacuates when returning is, like it, vaporized in the atmosphere.
In recent months, Tenacity and Shooting Star underwent rigorous vibration tests using the spacecraft’s specially designed vibrating table while stacked in launch configuration.
These tests, which passed with flying colors, exposed the vehicles to intense takeoff conditions.
At the Kennedy Space Center, the Dream Chaser and its module will now undergo heat tests to push their protection to the limit.