Dream Chaser Is Already Getting A New Heat Shield

[@Ionee-q4f]

im so so so hyped for dreamchaser, really hope everything goes well for sierra space, it would be great to have another cargo spacecraft, and maybe even a crewed vehicle later on

[@eirinym]

I feel like Dreamchaser has been in development for so long. They really need to, you know, actually launch it and get it doing anything.

[@cardboard9124]

It’s a small company with a lot on their plate, they haven’t overpromised a ton like spacex or blue origin and are overall doing very well

[@Jimmy-m3x]

Stoke really has a leg up on these other companies with their actively cooled metallic heat shield.

[@imaginary_friend7300]

IF it works. It's currently unproven. I have high hopes for them though.

[@12pentaborane]

Active cooling has the big flaw of needing to be active. It's why the Dragon capsule parachutes rather than thrusts to a landing.

[@FerociousPancake888]

If it works….

[@davidstevenson9517]

Jimmy, the "Plug Nozzle" Heat Shield System Concept has been around since 1961. I first learned of this in 1979, when I was aged 16... when most of the designers and management at Stoke Space had yet to born. I suspect, Jimmy, you could also be included in this New, albeit Naive, Generation of Spaceflight Observers. No leg up for Stoke Space...just old concepts Hello from New Zealand.👋🇳🇿

[@davidstevenson9517]

@@12pentaborane Actually, Penta Costal, The Great Elon Musk is actively heating his adopted Host Nation to Racial, Social, Industrial and Military boiling point. That Comicstrip Marvel of the Universe intends "removing" half the "Heat Shield" of the United States "Command Module". And where are the cooling "parachutes" when the "Black Dragon of MAGA" swoops down onto the terrified suburban "Villagers" of "Middle America" There is a flaw there too, I suspect, Penta Costal.

[@jackhydrazine1376]

What kind of heat shield tiles does the X-37B use?

[@UncleKennysPlace]

Very expensive ones.

[@morskojvolk]

I had read (I forget where) that a big reason the new TPS tiles took so long in development was because of a beauracratic error, one of the test engineers forgot to use the new TPS report cover sheets...

[@w3vjp568]

Have you seen my stapler?

[@stephenirwin2761]

@@w3vjp568was it a red Swingline?

[@UncleFester84]

And here i am, wondering what happened to the Venture Star metallic reusable heat shield...

[@JohnVance]

"The shuttle also had a number of complications related to its heat shield." Yeah just a little

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

Still worlds better than Starship.

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

@@PistonAvatarGuy Starship hasn't killed anyone yet.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@GreyDeathVaccine Yeah, because it's not even remotely close to being able to carry people.

[@imaginary_friend7300]

@@PistonAvatarGuy You're still pretending you can evaluate it's safety when you can't.. except when you lie.. which is what you actually did here. Haters are prone to that though.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@imaginary_friend7300 People keep telling me that I'm wrong about things because I'm not an "expert," but I end up being right more often than not.

[@wisanu99]

Will this thing ever gonna fly already? “We are going to fly. Oh we need to postpone”.. over and over.

[@Chris.Davies]

"Modern Space Plane" is hilarious. The shape is an almost exact copy of a Soviet lifting body from the 1960s!

[@Tuberuser187]

I don't really know much about this project but it's shape doesn't define how modern it is or isn't.

[@williams6206]

Talking about the bort-4??? That shit was a pure copy of the x-20 dyno-soar

[@CruentusV]

can't get excited about a tireless garage queen's new paint job...

[@BPJJohn]

Can't shake the vibe that Dreamchaser looks like a gigantic Bathtub in some shots.

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

or shoe

[@ThePlecoPal]

If only dreamchaser could actually do outside and show off all these new clothes 🙃

[@doberski6855]

Feel free to look back at the Space Shuttle program and how many times the original heat shield tile design was updated and changed during the early days of that program. It is called the research and development phase for a reason.

[@WhatsleftofTom]

I wonder how it compares to SpaceX and the tiles they’re testing on Starship

[@sarkaranish]

probably a little better as SpaceX's heatshield, as SpaceX's heatshield is designed to be easy to make and install. It isn't perfect, but it's still a decent heatshield. Dreamchaser is much more mature and doesn't have to worry as much about such considerations as it's a much smaller heatshield.

[@michaeldunne338]

I am interested to see how the tiles perform in the first few flights, especially in comparison to the shuttle tils and what SpaceX is working on. I assume we will need a couple of years before we acquired sufficient flight data?

[@machineenvyllc437]

don’t forget Orion’s heat shield failed and that’s a NASA project

[@guitarpicken7777]

​@@machineenvyllc437 true but capsules use ablative shields. The ceramics used on vehicles like shuttle, dream chaser and starship are vastly different

[@sarkaranish]

@@machineenvyllc437 it didn't fail, it just eroded faster than expected, but they are working on a fix. It should be fine.

[@myaschaefer6597]

To say the Space Shuttle tiles "caused a few issues" thru out the life of the Shuttle Program is a bit of an understatement, considering Columbia was lost due to missing tiles, after they got knocked off during the launch on its last flight!

[@guitarpicken7777]

Didn't just get knocked off, a bowling ball sized hole was present through the lower aeroshell

[@imaginary_friend7300]

Ironically, it wasn't even the "tile", but the RCC leading edge panel which were part of the TPS but not the same tile as used on other parts.

[@myaschaefer6597]

@@imaginary_friend7300 Didn't they find out that other tiles were getting knocked off too tho? I know on the last few missions, before retirement, they flew with a tile repair kit...In fact, I think I keep the same kit up in my bathroom, just in case things get a little rowdy up there! Ya know what I mean boys? 🤣😄 Thank you for the wonderful video! 🙌

[@spacetaco1]

Already? Thing has been in development for ever

[@Wrangler-fp4ei]

Has there been any reports why the dream tracer has been delayed so extensively other than technical difficulties? Is it because of the heat shield that's not quite living up to it and they haven't switched to the new one? This seems to be a report about an aspect of the vehicle that may or may not be playing into what's going on now with the vehicle.

[@imaginary_friend7300]

I think money played a part.

[@ThePlecoPal]

What is this automatic hyperlink nonsense??? Yeah youtube, i know what Starliner and cyber truck is.

[@t65bx25]

How ironic

[@MrEd2291]

I wish Dreamchaser the very best, but they need to launch in 2025 to remain relevant.

[@BartJBols]

Why? nothing really is in development right now that can compete for their unique capabilities.

[@TomDrez]

I've heard that last year as well, so long that no alternatives exist they are relevant

[@combatjeyj6234]

Uninformed question but why can't you just make a huge slab of the material instead of relying on tiles?

[@donaldharlan3981]

That is not NASA doing that. NASA has nothing to do with that airplane

[@obsidianjane4413]

Its not an airplane. NASA has given it the majority of its funding and has not held Sierra to any deliverable deadlines. One of the main reasons it has never flown. It makes more money being a perpetual development program than an operational system.

[@manuwilson4695]

Go USA! The REAL place of innovation. ✊

[@Iden_in_the_Rain]

This reminds me a lot of the lifting-body test aircraft from the USAF

[@obsidianjane4413]

That is because it is.

[@ricke6854]

15 x flights doesn't seem to be enough to be cost competitive, but what do I know...

[@georgepoitras3502]

Why wouldn't they launch NOW on top of a Falcon Heavy? Vulcan can launch the next one....................

[@BrentSmithline]

Just get this thing into space.

[@jac0m1n0]

It looks ineffectively small!! Only one passenger in the crew version!?

[@obsidianjane4413]

Originally it was going to have ~6, but this is scaled for the available launchers.

[@Soar-hw2rw]

This space age is getting exciting.

[@johnrday2023]

Dream Chaser appears a great concept - but up to now it appears it has been all "Public Relations" type advertising hype !!! It is a long way off to be certified for Astronauts.

[@drewberrymore2415]

It is no longer slated to be human rated.. they lost that contract to SpaceX (dragon) and Boeing (star liner)! The current model is made for cargo only, one can still hope that a human rated version will follow though!

[@MrGaborseres]

Watching 👀 dream chaser coming around is like watching grass grow......good grief...... Come on......

[@bat2293]

I would really like to see NASA put the crewed version on a fast track. Find the money... somehow.

[@admarsandbeyond]

The ISS will be retired on a few years, NASA has no need for another spacecraft

[@Mr_Lyric]

Hear me out, but we may see another spaceplan before a succesful boeing starliner

[@davidelang]

They should work with SpaceX or RocketLabs to put some of these tiles on their rockets and see how they behave in the real world

[@hughwitherington7956]

I agree. SpaceX would provide an additional ongoing real space test option for these new generation heat tiles. A comparison with their own product would be beneficial to both companies I would think. Perhaps a combination of both technologies would result in an even better heatshield 🤔 ? ?.🎉

[@kayla_white01]

This thing is never going to space

[@TiberiusMaximus]

way too complicated to be reusable and cost effective

[@LuciFeric137]

Winged reentry on earth is the best option.

[@LabyrinthiaX]

Starliner seems like it'll require little corrections when descending, it'll just do...

[@12pentaborane]

Agreed. Wings at least are some backup compared to relying on rocket engines to land.

[@admarsandbeyond]

More people have died on winged spaceplanes than any other spacecraft.

[@12pentaborane]

@@admarsandbeyond The wings were never the issue.

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

@@admarsandbeyond Russians never disclosed full list of killed astronauts. I've read about astronauts who inadvertently left Earth's orbit and drifted into the void of space.

[@obsidianjane4413]

Not really modern since its a design from the '70s.

[@imaginary_friend7300]

The shape is.

[@oljimeagle]

So let me guess? Another 3 year delay? lol…. These companies are so lame, always in damage control.

[@tbyte007]

inches? The 1856 is calling, they want their measurements back.

[@jamskinner]

Nothing wrong with inches. You can still use a decimal point.

[@tbyte007]

@@jamskinner Nothing wrong ... for 1784 or something. But it's 2024.

[@jamskinner]

@@tbyte007 why? What’s wrong with inches? Can I not measure 0.356 inches? How is that worse than mm or cm or nm? Oh wait it’s better because I don’t have a bunch of silly conversions.

[@Iden_in_the_Rain]

@@jamskinner metric is better because you don’t have a bunch of silly conversions. Sure, if you’re working in just inches you might not have to use prefix units (cm, nm, etc.), but as soon as you have to work in dimensions other than length the customary system becomes a real hassle.

[@tbyte007]

@@jamskinner What conversions in metric? Are you insane? Wtf are you even talking about 🤣

[@dissaid]

Did you see Chinas rip-off?

[@cube2fox]

Dream Chaser is itself a knock-off of the secret Soviet BOR-4 spaceplane. (There is a nice Ars Technica article on the story.)

[@stocky9218]

Like the other guy said, they ripped off a Russian version first 😂

[@benjaminmontenegro3423]

China’s isn’t really a rip-off tho

[@i-love-space390]

@@cube2fox Which is duplicated research from American Air Force and NASA research on lifting bodies in the 1960s. I am so sick of hearing about how the Americans "copied" the Russian space plane. At the very least, the two were developed concurrently in both countries.

[@cube2fox]

@@i-love-space390 The BOR spaceplanes go back to the MiG-105 concept from 1965. Wikipedia doesn't mention anything about the MiG-105 being based on an American design. (Though obviously the Buran was based in the Space Shuttle.)

[@jeromehugh9624]

Is this video paid by Sierra?

[@ForestFelvey]

Starship makes Dream Chaser obsolete - by a lot. Who is funding this debacle?

[@tmoney_mkll]

...

[@rogerwilco1777]

lol nice try Elon, we all know its you

[@RandomPerson-zl6uz]

I would argue it doesn’t actually, competition is always required so SpaceX doesn’t have complete dominance of the market, and sierra and stoke space are the only two competitors for a crew rated vehicle. Well unless you include starliner 🤣

[@i-love-space390]

@@RandomPerson-zl6uz Dream Chaser is NOT crew rated. They are working on a version, but I predict it is 5 years away from an actual mission. Look how long it took to certify Dragon 2 crew. But then again, neither is Starship.

[@i-love-space390]

Starship is a BOILERPLATE at this time. It has no internal systems to actually function as a cargo spacecraft , and it is even further away from producing a VERY DANGEROUS crewed vehicle. The first cargo Starship mission will use the Pez Dispenser to spit out Starlink satellites. But it does not have a docking system, and they have yet to include payload bay doors for over sized payloads. Life support is not onboard, so it cannot be used for crew yet. And I for one do not want to sit inside the second stage of the world's largest launch vehicle directly on top of the fuel tank bulkhead with NO CREW ABORT SYSTEM. NASA tried that on the Space Shuttle and one crew every 100 died a gruesome death.

[@BESTISD]

I didn’t know Starliner had a scam partner

[@bluesteel8376]

What are you even trying to say here?

[@tmoney_mkll]

?

[@MrCateagle]

I would trust Sierra Space over Boeing. They have been doing this R&D primarily on their own dime.

[@BESTISD]

@@bluesteel8376 one shockingly shitty launch on a ULA rocket then thrown away

[@BESTISD]

@@tmoney_mkll dream chaser is going to be like Buran it launches once and then gets thrown away