Art work portrays Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane berthed to International Space Station. (Image credit: Sierra Space)
LOUISVILLE, Colorado– The scene here is extreme. Gradually, ever so gradually, the Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane approaches the International Space Station.
There is focused face time here as objective controllers monitor their computer system screens and vigilantly keep an eye on inbound information. Stress and anxiety installs within the personal business's nerve center as the craft makes its method through different perfunctory stops briefly– very carefully approaching the International Space Station (ISS) and gets in the technique ellipsoid.
The outstretched Canadarm2 robotic arm grapples a component on Dream Chaser's Shooting Star freight module. A consent is offered, followed by effective berthing of the cargo-carrying spaceplane to a port on the orbiting station by means of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). Objective achieved. A simulated objective, that is.
Ringing out treatments
The multiple-hour simulation on Dec. 5, 2024 compared both Sierra Space and NASA Johnson Space Center controllers, stated Jerry Jason, Dream Chaser flight director, informed Space.com. “We're generally sounding out treatments,” he informed Space.com.
Practiced by the joint groups was close-in distance operations of the uncrewed Dream Chaser area airplane as it securely cuddled up to lock-in mode by the spaceport station's SSRMS.
“It gets us and berths us to the station,” Jason stated, “an extremely complex activity,” one that includes numerous go/no go checkpoints to mainly guarantee security of the human team onboard the ISS and the health of the uncrewed Dream Chaser.
Almost a lots joint simulations in between the Sierra Space nerve center here and NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas have actually occurred.
Breaking area news, the most recent updates on rocket launches, skywatching occasions and more!
Those practice reviews cover a selection of circumstances, from rendezvous, berthing, separating from the ISS of the Dream Chaser, to departure and spaceplane reentry back to Earth for a Kennedy Space Center tarmac goal, Jason stated.
“We have various phases of simulation in order to validate all our treatments, plan, and flight guidelines,” stated Jason. “All the core requirements are set out in files … which's why we have flight control groups to keep an eye on whatever.”
Practice, practice, practice for the genuine thing. Jerry Jason, Dream Chaser flight director at Sierra Space. (Image credit: Barbara David)Unique lab
“Today's training simulation was a vital turning point in the preparation of the joint Sierra Space and NASA flight control groups that will fly the upcoming Dream Chaser objective to the ISS,” stated Jeremy Owen, chief of the Flight Director Office at Sierra Space.
The simulation included 2 complete groups of flight controllers, the Sierra Space group in Colorado and the NASA group in Houston, practicing the last 2 hours of the Dream Chaser's method to the ISS.
“Training simulations are an important element of flight control group preparation to fly a spaceflight objective,” Owen stated.
