Dream Chaser spaceplane passes NASA testing milestone
Sierra Space aircraft joint test confirms powered payload capabilities necessary for its inaugural mission to the International Space Station.
Source | Sierra Space
Commercial space company and defense tech prime (Louisville, Colo., U.S.) has successfully completed and passed its Joint Test 10B milestone in collaboration with NASA (Washington, D.C., U.S.) on the Dream Chaser spaceplane. The aircraft’s primary structure is composite, and tiles made from a novel carbon fiber-reinforced silicon-carbide (C/SiC) ceramic matrix composite (CMC) in cooperation with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) aim to provide a high-performance thermal barrier during atmospheric re-entry.
The Joint Test 10B test demonstrated several capabilities of Dream Chaser, including its ability to power-on, air-cool and exchange data with multiple powered payloads inside its pressurized cabin. This is an important progression toward Dream Chaser’s planned mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
“Tests like these are critical demonstrations and confirms our ability to handle specialized payloads such as vital scientific research that will be integral to our mission to the ISS,” says Pablo Gonzalez, VP of crew and cargo transportation systems at Sierra Space. “This milestone highlights Dream Chaser’s flexibility, reliability and capability to meet the diverse needs of our payload customers — including NASA and commercial partners — and it brings us another step closer to launch.”
The successful completion of this milestone confirms that Dream Chaser will accommodate various payloads. The Joint Test 10B test demonstrated that Sierra Space can provide power within a specific voltage range and maintain the necessary environmental requirements for payloads. It also ensured all vehicle and payload data are seen in both Sierra Space’s mission control room in Louisville, Colorado, and in the payload support control rooms at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.
During the Joint Test 10B, the test team successfully evaluated three key payloads, all of which are candidates for flight on DCC-1, the first official mission of Dream Chaser. These payloads included:
Polar: A cryogenic preservation system developed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and managed by NASA’s Cold Stowage Lab and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Polar is designed to preserve scientific samples aboard the ISS and other visiting spacecraft at temperatures ranging from -95°C to +10°C.
Powered ascent utility locker (PAUL): A facility developed by Space Tango that holds two CubeLab experiments requiring power during ascent. These experiments often focus on biological research, such as cell and tissue cultures.
NASA’s single stowage locker: A standard stowage system designed to carry experiments and other payloads in the Dream Chaser spaceplane.
The tests took place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in January 2025, with oversight from Sierra Space and NASA.
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