Dream Chaser, United Nations scheduled for launch in 2021

LOUISVILLE — Sierra Nevada Corp. and United Nations officials on Tuesday said their planned Dream Chaser space mission that will allow developing countries the chance to fly experiments and other microgravity payloads into space is targeted for a 2021 launch.

SNC, which bases its Space Systems Division in Louisville, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs first announced in June that they’d signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on such a flight.

The flight will use the same unmanned variant of SNC’s Dream Chaser spacecraft that the company will use to fly cargo missions for NASA.

SPONSORED CONTENT

How dispatchable resources enable the clean energy transition

Platte River must prepare for the retirement of 431 megawatts (MW) of dispatchable, coal-fired generation by the end of the decade and address more frequent extreme weather events that can bring dark calms (periods when there is no sun or wind).

While the 2021 mission will be aimed at developing countries, all United Nations member states will be able to propose payloads for the 14-day mission to low-Earth orbit.

SNC and UN officials made their announcement Tuesday at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.

UNOOSA director Simonetta Di Pippo said in a release from SNC that funding for the mission will come from multiple sources, including individual countries paying prorated portions of mission costs based on their ability to pay, as well as major sponsors.

SNC spokeswoman Krystal Scordo said she couldn’t disclose a contract amount at this point, as many aspects, including which payloads will be flown and which type of rocket will launch Dream Chaser into space, are still being determined. Payloads will be selected by 2018 to allow time for development and integration into Dream Chaser, a reusable spacecraft that has been designed and developed in Louisville.

The launch and landing sites for the mission are also to be determined.

“One of UNOOSA’s core responsibilities is to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of outer space,” Di Pippo said in the release. “I am proud to say that one of the ways UNOOSA will achieve this, in cooperation with our partner SNC, is by dedicating an entire microgravity mission to United Nations Member States, many of which do not have the infrastructure or financial backing to have a standalone space program.”