SpaceDev Dream Chaser concept

Dream Chaser got their ISS resupply contracts along with SpaceX and Boeing. I'm thinking that with enough flight experience they'll really like to have a manned version. It will be cool to see these come in and land, like the shuttle and the X-37.

http://www.universetoday.com/126779/nasa-announces-iss-resupply-winners/

Especially interesting for me is, that they are actually considering using a German airport (Rostock-Laage, ETNL) as alternative landing site, for having shorter travel times for experiments returned from space.
 
After the ISS, all these wonderful commercial vehicles don't have any foreseeable customers. It's a shame. SNC has contacted ESA, but would Europe fund a foreign, private company?
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35328544

The European Space Agency (Esa) says it is excited by its US counterpart's selection of a winged vehicle to resupply the space station.

Nasa has extended contracts to existing commercial cargo carriers, Orbital ATK and SpaceX, but has added a third team: the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).

This new entrant will fly an automated mini-shuttle called Dream Chaser.
 
After the ISS, all these wonderful commercial vehicles don't have any foreseeable customers. It's a shame. SNC has contacted ESA, but would Europe fund a foreign, private company?

I doubt the ISS will be the end of international space stations. So far the ISS is a huge success story in many aspects. Maybe the next international space station will be staging point for interplanetary missions, like the dual-keel Space station freedom was supposed to be.
 
I doubt the ISS will be the end of international space stations. So far the ISS is a huge success story in many aspects. Maybe the next international space station will be staging point for interplanetary missions, like the dual-keel Space station freedom was supposed to be.

China has plans to construct a Mir-sized space station. Unfortunately, the US doesn't currently allow cooperation in space with China.

Meanwhile, the Bigelow module is scheduled to launch in March. Maybe inflatable modules will turn out to be the next step.
 
Back
Top