SpacePlane at Sierra Space faces a re -invention after changing NASA’s contract

When Sierra Space won a contract to deliver goods to the International Space Station for nearly a decade, the company first promised the commercial space market: special and rapid re -recovery and the freight reference capable of landing on the commercial corridors.

This dream has changed. In an amendment to the contract announced earlier this week, NASA and Sira Space agreed to remove the agency’s guarantee to buy goods to the International Space Station. Instead, the Dream Chaser SpacePlane will appear for the first time in a free demonstration in late 2026, and you will not do anchor with the station.

NASA said it would provide “minimum support” for this test, and only then decided if the tasks of reselling ISS will be requested at all.

Changing the contract is a blow to the Dream Chaser program. Such programs usually depend on, if not completely, on government support, as the development costs offered to the space vehicle covered with charging or shipping are so high that commercial customers are rarely able to submit adequate request to close the work issue.

For example, Spacex received billions of dollars from NASA through commercial tropical transport services and commercial staff programs to develop Capsule Dragon and Falcon 9.

So this change also means that Dream Chaser will need to be subjected to a large rename. The task has always been the Return of the ISS in the framework of the NASA’s commercial re -offer, along with Dragon’s Dragon and Northrop Grumman’s Cygenus. These contracts have a joint roof of 14 billion dollars through the three service providers; NASA has obligated about $ 1.43 billion to Serra space so far, but now it may be as much as commitment.

As this guaranteed income is over, Sierra Space is now facing the challenge of re -placing itself as a dual -use platform useful for commercial spaces or defense customers.

The company’s executives are pushing strongly on the defense angle, according to a press release on Thursday. Her CEO, Viva Ozman, said that the transition will allow Sira to provide “unique capabilities to meet the needs of the various mission profiles, including emerging and existential threats and national security priorities that are in line with our acceleration in the defense technology market.”

Medium programming axes are relatively rare in space, but they have become more common as space startups compete with government priorities and the need to prove commercial markets before they are. Historically, air space systems are designed about very important important profiles, but Sierra argues that DRAM Chaser and the runway capacity make it flexible.

The free illustration of the elasticity of Sierra Dream Chaser-may host a different load and show other capabilities, without having to establish ISS.

Time runs out. ISS for Deorbit is scheduled for 2030, leaving Dream Chaser only a few years short to show the delivery of goods in orbit. But if Dream Chaser is able to prove itself, it can continue credible to serve many customers and carve a valuable position as the only winged spacecraft in the market.