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Company’s New Revolutionary Return Logistics Spacecraft, called Sierra Space Ghost, is Now in Beta Testing LOUISVILLE, Colo. – Apr. 8, 2024 – Sierra Space, a leading commercial space-tech company and next generation defense-tech prime, building a platform in space to benefit life on Earth and protect the freedom of economic activity in the Orbital Age®, has successfully beta tested a revolutionary new logistics spacecraft, Sierra Space Ghost. This new technology propels Sierra Space into a new era of national security space and space logistics, promising to redefine the way critical defense supplies are delivered across the globe. The Sierra Space Ghost Beta decelerator, part of the company’s recently announced Sierra Space Axelerator™ incubator, is a cutting-edge thermal protection system tailored for the safe return of small payloads from space. See video here and download photos here. Last month, the first drop test of the Sierra Space Ghost was completed in Florida, enabling Sierra Space test engineers to fully understand the flight characteristics of the system and how recovery operations can be rapidly completed on the ground.
The ability to deliver critical supplies within 90 minutes to any location on Earth is a game-changing technology that could potentially turn the tide of a conflict. With this new technology, the warfighter on the ground could order pre-staged supplies that are waiting in an on-orbit inventory, or positioned with rapid launch capability, and deploy them down to Earth within 100 yards of where they are needed. Sierra Space performed a series of three drop tests on February 1 at Space Florida’s storied Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) in Florida, one of the longest runways in the world and where most of NASA’s space shuttle orbiters ended their missions. With the support of the Florida-based company Operator Solutions, three test articles were dropped from a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter to ensure stable flight for the hardware at subsonic speeds. Sierra Space will scale-up to hypersonic in upcoming tests. The entire testing campaign came together in 90 days as part of Sierra Space’s Axelerator incubator charter. Key highlights included:
Sierra Space Axelerator is the company’s innovation-at-speed incubator designed to fast-track the development of revolutionary defense technologies and mission solutions. The Axelerator incubator is part of Sierra Space’s Orbital Missions and Services organization, founded in 2023 to focus on innovative national security solutions. Sierra Space has since been awarded $1.3 billion in prime satellite constellations contracts. The Sierra Space Ghost will now continue through a robust beta testing program, developing operations in real time. Beta testing allows the Sierra Space test team to consider the infrastructure and architecture needed to operate the spacecraft, as well as the communications system, the data system and the recording of every facet of operations.
Additional background on Sierra Space Ghost:
About Sierra Space Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company at the forefront of innovation and the commercialization of space in the Orbital Age®, building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit life on Earth. With more than 30 years and 500 missions of space flight heritage, the company is reinventing both space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only commercial spaceplane, and the future of space destinations with the company’s inflatable and expandable space station technology. Using commercial business models, the company is also delivering orbital services to commercial, DoD and national security organizations, expanding production capacity to meet the needs of constellation programs. In addition, Sierra Space builds a host of systems and subsystems across solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion and thermal control, offering myriad space-as-a-service solutions for the new space economy.
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MEDIA CONTACTS: Alex Walker, Sierra Space |
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