Dream Chaser is almost ready for its first launch & future propulsion, to replace Shuttle

Dream Chaser is almost ready for its first launch & future propulsion, to replace Shuttle
HUGE THANKS TO :
Aerospace America

Dream Chaser Tenacity's First Launch & Future Propulsion

Nearly a decade in the making with many hurdles, Dream Chaser - the Dream spacecraft of half a century is finally scheduled to lift off for the first time in the third quarter of 2023, and the first manned mission is due in 2026.
Like Starship, this is considered one of the most anticipated flights this year, especially for NASA's engineers.
Find out everything about this in today's episode of Alpha Tech:
To understand Dream Chaser's prospects let's talk about its origin:
The Dream Chaser spacecraft design is directly based on the HL-20 vehicle, a concept developed by NASA LaRC and studied extensively in the 1980s and 1990s.
At the beginning of NASA’s manned spaceflight program, lifting bodies were identified as a promising re-entry vehicle configuration. Several different prototypes were built and flight-tested in the 1960s at what is now the DFRC, including the HL-10, built by Northrop for NASA LaRC. Characteristic of LaRC designs, the HL-10 had a flat bottom and three fins.
By contrast, NASA Ames Research Center designs typically had a rounded bottom and two fins. The HL-10 flew 37 times between 1966 and 1970 and still holds the record for the highest (90,803 ft) and fastest (Mach 1.861) manned lifting body. It was often rated by the pilots as the “best flying lifting body,” and was used to help establish the precision unpowered landing techniques used in the Space Shuttle program.
The U.S. manned lifting body program ended in 1975, but a similar program was under development at the Mikoyan Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Known as the Spiral project, a single-seat lifting body concept was
proposed for a variety of missions including reconnaissance and a potential “space fighter.” It is possible that this project was influenced by the unclassified HL-10 reports available from NASA, as Spiral was also a flat-bottom, three-fin design.
Dream Chaser is almost ready for its first launch & future propulsion, to replace Shuttle

[greg]

Perfect episode... No "genius", no "humiliation", and well-constrained hype. Well Done!

[angelarch]

Dreamchaser is THE BEST!!! Looking forward to this craft flying in orbit much more than any other rocket!

[PiDsPagePrototypes]

6:25 - narration says "1.5grams", but the sentence appears to indicate i means "1.5 G" (force of Gravity)
Dreamchaser is more likely to be the granddaddy of future low budget commercial space transport carriers, then what a traditional capsule will be. A fleet of these could ferry the passengers up to orbit, where they could use a space station as a transfer hub, climbing in to a Space-Only Starship for the flight out to other planets.

[ARWest-bpyb]

Can't wait for Dream Chaser to launch! 👍👍

[generalrendar]

It's not 1.5 grams, it's rated to only put 1.5 Gs (times the force of gravity) load on the cargo in reentry. This is excellent for fragile cargo and science experiments.

[pctrashtalk]

I would rather land on a runway under control than splash down in the ocean. Bravo

[davidboyle]

Would be cool to see this thing launch ‘open air’ atop a Falcon 9. Been a long time in development. Unfortunately, by the time it’s up and running, and man rated, Starship will be flying at launch rates and costs no one else will be able to touch.

[talonproductions]

Seriously!…. 5 sets of commercials for a nine minute video? If you’re losing subscribers, and wondering why…

[MissingTools]

Great fresh content, great reporting, keep it up. 👏

[knight]

I have high hopes for them. Between SpaceX, Dream Chase, Rocket lab, and Astra we will see the costs of space launches go down. ULA will eventually go bankrupt and disappear and Blue Origin will be too late into the game.

[tomscience]

This will be fantastic!! Didnt know the program will be taken up to the next level! Thanks a million!

[VAMobMember]

Wasn’t the HO-10 used as part of the intro for the atV series THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN?

[MVStarCatcher]

Sierra Nevada should adopt Falcon 9 for launch. Better than Atlas V and no chance of it being discontinued.

[winstonsmith]

"Dream Chaser can return critical cargo at less than 1.5 grams using a gentle runway landing." That was a misinterpretation of "1.5 Gs".

[artypete]

Very interesting history of Dream Chaser development. More like this please 😊

[bushmaster]

Very amazing this new company able to catch up to spacex in so little time. Congratulations

[JoeyBlogs]

6:27 Don't quite get that part. Less than 1.5 grams ?

[garyoliver]

Well researched and well delivered. Thanks!

[JoeShmoism]

Dream chaser is an unmanned cargo vessel. It was initially intended as a manned vehicle because t that is no longer the case at this time.

[thekaj]

So does anybody know the exact date it's going to orbit?