The $500 million NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS)
demonstration program had 27 proposals. Six were selected for
negotiaations, including SpaceDev and its proposed SpaceDev Dream
Chaser, based on the NASA HL-20 Space Taxi or Personnel L:aunch System
(PLS). The HL-20 was reverse engineered from the successful orbital
Soviet BOR-4.

SpaceDev is proposing a four pasenger suborbital Dream Chaser, using
its proven, safe, and improved performance hybrid rocket motors based
on those SpaceDev developed for SSO.

For COTS, SpaceDev has said it proposed a six passenger version of the
Dream Chaser. Their pitch is 1) they are using an existing and proven
vehicle design, 2) their team mate Adam Aircraft is a proven is
composite airframe design and manufacturing, and 3) SpaceDev is using
their proven human rated hybrid rocket motors.

It seems like SpaceDev really does have the best, simplest, safest,
proven vehicle and technology, and with their successful track record
over the years, it will be criminal if SpaceDev does not win one of the
COTS contracts.

I also believe that SpaceDev's Dream Chaser is NASA's only hope for a
piloted vehicle, ever. All other concepts are capsules in which the
astronauts will just be passive passengers. SpaceDev's Dream Chaser
looks like a sorts car type of space ship, and should get the general
tax-paying public interested in and maybe even excited about space,
again.


wrote:
wrote:
This vehicle will land on a runway like the shuttle, right? I wish NASA
would go this route--a scaled-down version of the shuttle--rather than
go backwards to Apollo.


NASA is actually working with SpaceDev to develop a small HL-20-derived
space plane as one of the COTS program proposals:

http://www.spacedev.com/newsite/temp...le.php?pid=542

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commerc...ation_Services


The Dream Chaser will either carry up to six astronauts to ISS, or
cargo. It can also potentially be used for suborbital and orbital space
tourism.
-Mike