Sierra Nevada Reaches Major Engine Milestone for Dream Chaser
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**SIERRA NEVADA CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE** ** _SNC fires hybrid rocket motor and begins production on Dream Chaser Vehicle_**
The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems Group announces the successful completion of two critical milestones for NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program. On September 21, 2010, SNC completed three successful test firings of a single hybrid rocket motor in one day. SNC’s newly opened rocket test facility in San Diego County, California, hosted NASA personnel for a rocket motor manufacturing review as well as the motor firings, including one firing under vacuum ignition conditions. The tests, which simulated a complete nominal mission profile, demonstrated the multiple restart capability of SNC’s proprietary hybrid rocket motor. This same hybrid rocket will be used as the main propulsion system on the Dream Chaser during the orbital operations.
[**Editor’s Note:** Sierra Nevada is the main contractor for Scaled Composites’ RocketMotorTwo, which will power SpaceShipTwo on suborbital flights. Both vehicles are using the same propulsion system. This probably explains why Scaled Composite and Virgin Galactic officials are predicting powered test flights of SpaceShipTwo in 2011.]
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