On Sunday, February 2, 2014 6:40:12 AM UTC-8, Robert Clark wrote:
On Wednesday, January 29, 2014 4:32:49 PM UTC-5, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:

Why is Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) calling the Dream Chaser the SUV



of space? Because it's roomier than the cramped Dragon and CST-100

capsules? That may be, but with those you will at least have a fair

chance of making it back alive.

Let's face it, a winged vehicle is too dangerous for space travel due to

the energies involved. I've claimed before that Dream Chaser has no hope

of surviving an in-flight explosion of the booster rocket, which will

rip its wings off and doom the vehicle and crew. With a capsule, there's

a fair chance you might survive.

People are asking why SNC is booking an Atlas 5 for a demonstration

flight without demonstrating both an on-pad abort or an in-flight abort

(preferably at Max-Q).

I believe Dream Chaser could work, but it can never be safe and

therefore has to be discarded, just like Shuttle.



The abort capability is to be provided by the Dream Chaser's onboard hybrid engines:



Sierra Nevada's 5-year partnership with NASA - Progress on Dream Chaser.

June 22, 2012 by Chris Gebhardt

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2012/...-dream-chaser/


Bob Clark

An exploding butt rocket with an expanding fireball moving out at 5 km/sec, or even 2.5 km/sec, is going to be a tough fail to outrun.