IAC2014 Day Three: Stratolaunch and Sierra Nevada Courting on Dream Chaser

One of the highlights at today’s (October 1) International Astronautical Congress (IAC2014) was a presentation by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and Vulcan Inc., Paul Allen’s investment group that is funding the development of Stratolaunch.  The two companies are discussing a potential partnership wherein Stratolaunch would be used to launch a 75 percent version of Dream Chaser into low Earth orbit (LEO).

Vulcan oversees Paul Allen’s financial interests, ranging from the Seattle Seahawks to real estate to philanthropy to Allen’s “pet thing” – space exploration, according to Chuck Beames, who briefed an IAC2014 crowd along with SNC’s Mark Sirangleo.  Beames heads Vulcan Aerospace, a Vulcan division, and is Executive Director of Stratolaunch.  He joined Vulcan earlier this year after serving as principal director, space and intelligence, to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics and overseeing the acquisition restructuring of the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, is perhaps best known in the space business as the financial backer of  Scaled Composite’s SpaceShipOne design, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004.  One of Allen’s current projects is Stratolaunch, an aircraft that would serve as a launch platform for a three-stage rocket, Thunderbolt, to send people or cargo into suborbital or orbital spaceflight.  As Beames described it, Stratolaunch, with a 385 foot wingspan, can launch 13,500 pounds into low Earth orbit (LEO).  The plane is expected to have its first flight in 2016 with a demonstration space launch in 2018.

A Stratolaunch-Dream Chaser system envisions using Stratolaunch to launch a 75 percent version of Dream Chaser into space with cargo or two-three crew.  It could launch and return to the launch site within 24 hours in a “responsive space” mode.  It could take off from anywhere in the world and deliver cargo or people to any inclination orbit and, with its cross-range capability, land anywhere there is a runway that can handle a 747 or A320 aircraft.

SNC has a strong presence here at IAC2014, with company officials, including Sirangleo, stressing the company’s 26-year history in the space business and Dream Chaser’s origin as a NASA design for returning crews from the International Space Station (ISS).  NASA’s program, HL-20, was cancelled and SNC picked it up.  SNC is one of the three companies supported by NASA in the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) phase of the commercial crew program, but recently lost out to Boeing and SpaceX on the final phase, Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP).  SNC is protesting that decision.

Beames said taking crews or cargo to the ISS is only one possibility and that as a former “Air Force guy” he is “excited” about the military possibilities of such a capability.  In a later interview, he offered the example of launching smaller versions of GPS to reconstitute the GPS constellation on an as-needed basis. 

Beames stressed that no final decision has been made on the partnership and the next step is to “mature the architecture.”