SpaceDev gets Benson $ for "Dream Chaser"

[docm]

SpaceDev makes hybrid rocket motors, including those used in SpaceShipOne.<br /><br />Benson Space Co. was founded by former SpaceDev chief Jim Benson as a Virgin Galactic style space-liner service. <br /><br />Robert "Hoot" Gibson was an astronaut with 5 shuttle missions, including the first flight to MIR. After leaving NASA he served as a Southwest Airlines pilot until his retirement this year. He was also part of the Challenger investigation.<br /><br />http://www.spacefellowship.com/News/?p=1751<br /><br />http://www.bensonspace.com/<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>SpaceDev Awarded Study Contract for Dream Chaser™ Spaceship<br /><br />December 19th, 2006<br /><br />SpaceDev has been awarded a $330,000 Phase I study contract from Benson Space Company to further the SpaceDev Dream Chaser spaceship program. The study will contribute to the on-going development of the spaceship and will result in space vehicle and rocket motor designs ready for Phase II vehicle fabrication and testing. The SpaceDev Dream Chaser™ spaceship is based on NASA’s design of the ten passenger orbital HL-20 Personnel Launch System, and will launch vertically and land horizontally in direct sight of viewers.<br /><br />“We look forward to undertaking this exciting project with Jim, and to completing this first-phase study contract in March 2007,” offered Mark N. Sirangelo, Chairman and CEO of SpaceDev. “We are confident that we can assist Jim Benson and Benson Space Company in his quest to take civilians to space, and we are proud to provide the technical know-how and products to help make that a reality.”<br /><br />“It’s official – we’ve entered the commercial race to space and have begun our countdown to what I expect will be Benson Space Company’s first suborbital flights by the end of 2008,” said Jim Benson, who until recently served as Cha</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[nyarlathotep]

Flights by 2008? Someone tell 'em they're dreaming.

 

[spacefire]

in Powerpointland, $300,000 buys a lot <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[spacester]

I take it some people here are not familiar with Jim Bensen. SpaceDev ain't no fly-by-night outfit. This recent split was to accommodate investors and create an arm's length relationship between a spaceship manufacturer and their first customer.<br /><br />I look to that first $300,000 to get about 100 times that amount in NASA terms, but that is actually to NASA's credit, as the DreamChaser is directly derived from the X-34 program.<br /><br />Oct 2004 story<br />If any project is greased for rapid development, it's this one. They have a LOT of design work in the can. Heck, they have a lot of stuff they've had time to refine.<br /><br />They just needed the money to get it started. It stands to reason there's a lot more cash where that $300K came from.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[inventorwannabe]

"..., as the DreamChaser is directly derived from the X-34 program."<br /><br />Which was derived from the Soviet BOR-4...<br /><br />Brgds / InventorWannabe

 

[publiusr]

I like this and Silver Dart. They both are grounded in terms of understanding the need of big boosters.<br /><br />t/Space is a joke on the other hand. Too small.

 

[nyarlathotep]

>"t/Space is a joke on the other hand. Too small."<br /><br />Yeah, their drymass, performance and cost estimates were 'optimistic' at best. I suspect that to launch the final version of the Quickreach 2, the Very Large Aircraft would have had to end up growing to the size of the Molniya-1000 Heracles that the russians wanted to build for MAKS.

 

[docm]

You sure of that? <br /><br />White Knight 2, about the size of a 757 but minus the comprimises, looks awfully close to VLA. In fact there are numerous leaks about that they're one and the same. It certainly has the ground clearance if WK-1 is any indication and it <i><b>is</b></i> being built for SS2 anyhow.<br /><br />There are also articles about that the t/Space CXV 4-man capsule is in fact Scaled Composite's SS3 design. CXV's "carefree reentry" fits his design philosophy to a tee, so why repeat your efforts? Do you really think the super-practical Rutan would design two capsules for basic up/down chores? I don't. <br /><br />If those are correct then the only missing piece is QuickReach2, and that could be replaced by alternative ground-based boosters if absolutely necessary. The main reason for it and VLA was the launch abort capability, and an escape tower is a proven alternative.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[nyarlathotep]

I have no doubts about the parts that Rutan would be building, he's got an awfully long history of underpromising and overdelivering. <br /><br />But, until Airlaunch manages to launch their C-17A based quickreach on time, performance and budget, I'm not prepared to believe a word about their CXV rocket. Just remember how many other ludicrous rocket concepts Gary Hudson has tried to sell idiotic investors before.

 

[docm]

Then stick it on top of a Falcon-whatever version fits. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>