Latest news with #TomMarshburn
Business Wire
15-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Sierra Space Awarded Contract by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime that is building a platform in space to benefit and protect life on Earth ®, announced today it has been awarded a contract by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to deliver key components for spacecraft docking on the International Space Station (ISS). This includes a Passive Common Berthing Mechanism (PCBM), connection hatch, lighting system, and pressure sensor technology to enable spacecraft to dock at the ISS. The components will ultimately be used by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for space station missions to the ISS. 'By working with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to support JAXA's future missions to the ISS, we're underscoring our commitment to scientific advancement and the growth of the low-Earth orbit economy,' said Dr. Tom Marshburn, Chief Astronaut and VP of Human Factors Engineering at Sierra Space. 'This contract reinforces Sierra Space's reputation for delivering mission-critical, flight-proven systems that our partners can rely on. We're committed to a diverse and reliable Space Tech product portfolio that helps shape the future of space infrastructure.' The PCBM is a critical component that enables secure and reliable docking of pressurized vehicles to the ISS. As one of the industry's trusted suppliers of this flight-proven hardware, Sierra Space's PCBM provides precise alignment and environmental sealing between the ISS and visiting spacecraft. The fully passive assembly, complementing the active system mounted on the ISS, features minimal moving parts, making it a highly dependable choice for international space missions. Sierra Space will also build the hatch system to round out the entry and exit connection. This award further strengthens Sierra Space's position as an industry leader in space infrastructure. The company remains committed to advancing the frontiers of space technology through the development, integration, and testing of Space Tech programs including the creation of environmental systems, subsystems, rocket engines, and propulsion technologies. About Sierra Space Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company and emerging defense tech prime, that is building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit and protect 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 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.
Broadcast Pro
04-06-2025
- Business
- Broadcast Pro
Sierra Space wins NASA contract for lunar habitat study
The NextSTEP-2 Appendix R contract positions Sierra Space as a leader in lunar logistics, including transport, storage, tracking, and waste management. Sierra Space has won a significant contract from NASA to study the use of the companys expandable space station technology on the moon. Sierra Space has been awarded a major contract by NASA to study the potential use of its expandable space station technology on the lunar surface. The agreement, part of NASAs NextSTEP-2 Appendix R initiative for Lunar Logistics and Mobility Studies, places the company at the forefront of efforts to develop advanced systems that will support future moon-to-Mars missions. The contract focuses on exploring how Sierra Spaces inflatable LIFE habitat and related technologies can be adapted to meet a range of logistical and habitation needs on the moon. This includes applications such as tunnel systems around lunar bases, storage and tracking of equipment and supplies, waste management, and the integration of comprehensive frameworks for sustained human presence on the lunar surface. Sierra Space brings considerable expertise to the project, with prior experience in design and analysis of lunar landers, rovers, and habitats. The company has also worked closely with teams supporting human landing systems and lunar terrain vehiclescritical components for building a long-term lunar infrastructure. Earlier this year, in April, Sierra Space completed hypervelocity impact tests at NASAs White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. These trials, which used a .50 caliber two-stage light gas gun to simulate micrometeoroid and orbital debris strikes, were aimed at reinforcing the structural integrity of the LIFE habitat. The successful results marked a key milestone in adapting the habitat for potential lunar and orbital deployment. Dr Tom Marshburn, Chief Astronaut and Vice President of Human Factors Engineering at Sierra Space, said: 'We believe our expandable softgoods space station technology can thrive in low-Earth orbit for commercial uses and for deep space exploration with NASA. Sierra Space is able to leverage existing technologies to deliver robust and scalable solutions that support both near-term and long-term mission objectives on the moon. Weve developed a versatile technology with our expandable habitation products that we feel supports NASAs moon to Mars goals.'
Business Wire
28-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Sierra Space Awarded Lunar Logistics Contract by NASA
LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime that is building a platform in space to benefit and protect life on Earth, announced today it has won a significant contract from NASA to study the use of Sierra Space's expandable space station technology on the moon. The purpose of this contract will be to ultimately develop innovative solutions for lunar surface logistics and mobility supporting NASA's moon to Mars Architecture. The contract, under the NextSTEP-2 Appendix R for Lunar Logistics and Mobility Studies, positions Sierra Space at the forefront of verticals including logistical carriers; logistics transfer; staging, storage, and tracking; trash management; and integrated strategies. This includes everything from the potential use of Sierra Space's inflatable LIFE ® habitat technology for tunnels around a moon base to tracking and storage of goods on the moon, as well as integration of the entire framework for habitation on the lunar surface. 'We believe our expandable softgoods space station technology can thrive in low-Earth orbit for commercial uses and for deep space exploration with NASA,' said Dr. Tom Marshburn, Chief Astronaut and Vice President of Human Factors Engineering at Sierra Space. 'Sierra Space is able to leverage existing technologies to deliver robust and scalable solutions that support both near-term and long-term mission objectives on the moon. We've developed a versatile technology with our expandable habitation products that we feel supports NASA's moon to Mars goals.' Sierra Space has in-depth insight into NASA's lunar plans through analysis and design work performed for lunar landers, lunar rovers, lunar habitats and ongoing work supporting providers of human landing systems, lunar terrain vehicles and lunar pressurized rovers. These are all key elements for designing an architecture for sustained habitation on the moon. Notably in April, Sierra Space announced the completion of successful hypervelocity impact trials conducted at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to optimize the structural integrity of Sierra Space's LIFE habitat space station technology. This included the use of NASA's .50 caliber two-stage light gas gun to replicate micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impacts to LIFE's outer shield, to prepare the space station of use in orbit. About Sierra Space Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company and emerging defense tech prime that is building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit and protect 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 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.
The Verge
21-05-2025
- Science
- The Verge
The pursuit of better drugs through orbital space crystals
In The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton wrote about killer alien space crystals that are (spoiler alert) ultimately stymied by Earth's breadth of pH values. In reality, crystals grown in space could be key to a new generation of cancer-fighting treatments that save lives, not threaten them. Colorado-based startup Sierra Space is nearly ready to launch its reusable space plane, Dream Chaser. It's set to carry into orbit a 3-D printed module designed by engineers at pharma giant Merck. If the test goes well, and if Dream Chaser's gentle reentry process keeps that sensitive cargo safe, this could be the start of something big — despite those crystals being microscopic. A brief history of space crystals Space crystals sound like something an astrology guru would hang over their bed to help them sleep, but there's real science here. According to the ISS National Lab, crystals grown in space are simply better: 'Scientists hypothesize that these observed benefits result from a slower, more uniform movement of molecules into a crystalline lattice in microgravity.' Research into monoclonal antibodies points towards crystallization as being key for developing more stable, subcutaneous delivery mechanisms. Theoretically, expensive chemotherapy sessions could be replaced by injections that a patient could self-administer at home. It's the stuff of science fiction — and in the case of The Andromeda Strain, it literally is — but the truth is actually closer to Back to the Future. Space crystal research actually began in the early '80s, first on one-off rocket flights and eventually on the Space Shuttle. Space crystal research actually began in the early '80s There was much hope (and hype) about the tech back then, but it was ultimately stymied by two things. The first is cost. The Space Shuttle orbiter was to be America's low-cost orbital research transporter, but that never panned out. NASA's own per-mission costs pegged each flight at somewhere around $1.5 billion. That's simply far too expensive, even in the pharma industry, where reporting quarterly profits often requires seven or more digits. The rise of SpaceX and its competitors has brought those costs down substantially, lowering the cost of getting cargo into space to a relatively paltry $2,000 per kg. But that still leaves the other problem: shock. If you're going all the way to orbit just to grow some ultrafine structures, you don't want to rattle them to pieces on the way back down. 'It's about a 20 mph car crash equivalent into the ground,' Dr. Tom Marshburn said of the experience of landing in a capsule like Dragon. He would know. Marshburn is chief astronaut at Sierra and the company's VP of human factors engineering, but before that he was a NASA astronaut. He's flown on the Shuttle, Soyuz, and Dragon. Sierra and its reusable Dream Chaser aircraft stand poised to fix both problems, cost and shock, in one fell swoop. Easy entry Those of us of a certain age will likely feel a sort of irrational affinity for Dream Chaser at first glance. Its black and white color scheme and simple, lifting body design give strong Space Shuttle orbiter vibes, but this is no retro design intended to earn throwback cred. Dream Chaser has some major advantages over Shuttle. For one thing, it's much smaller, about one-quarter the length. It fits neatly inside a payload compartment of a ULA (United Launch Alliance) Vulcan rocket, not requiring the messy combination of tanks, liquid and solid fuel boosters, and endless specialized hardware that stymied any hope the Space Shuttle had in being profitable. It also doesn't require a three-mile-long runway like the Shuttle. 'It can do a precision landing anywhere a 737 can land,' Dr. Marshburn said. 'It can do a precision landing anywhere a 737 can land.' The biggest change, though, is that it won't fly with crew onboard. For now, at least. Dream Chaser was born out of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities (CCtCap) contract, a competition that also included SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Boeing's Starliner capsule. NASA selected two winners, and Sierra Space was unlucky to place third. However, seeing the potential, NASA offered enough orbital cargo contracts to make a Dream Chaser reboot worthwhile. A subtly redesigned space plane will launch and land as planned, just minus the people. Why did NASA want to keep Sierra Space in the loop? Dream Chaser's design offers some real benefits, particularly as we potentially enter an age of space manufacturing. 'A capsule like a Dragon, by the nature of the physics, of the shape of it, can bring down only half of what it takes up,' said Meagan Crawford, founder and managing partner at SpaceFund, an early-stage venture capital investment fund with a focus on commercial space. 'The space plane has the opposite physics, it can bring down twice as much as it takes up.' An ideal orbital transport and manufacturing network, then, has a combination of the two. Microgravity potential That's the potential. For now, the project with Merck is something of a proof of concept, a 3D-printed module containing a series of tubes, plungers, and capsules. Once it gets to the ISS, a willing astronaut will turn some valves in sequence, then the resulting concoction will be shuttled back to Earth for someone at Merck to examine. And they'll be able to do so quickly. Dr. Marshburn said that traditional reentry capsules like Dragon or Soyuz often spend days bouncing on boats or trucks before their cargo can be retrieved. Dream Chaser was designed for cargo to be offloaded within an hour after its wheels stop rolling. The Merck module will test that quick retrieval, plus the soft landing, ensuring the potential for this sort of crystalline growth in space. And, though the ISS is itself set to be decommissioned by the end of the decade, Sierra Space is positioning its own inflatable orbital modules as a commercial alternative, free of the politics and oversight of the ISS. Space Fund's Crawford said that the economics are sound, and the proof is in the number of players trying to capitalize on the space plane market. Startups like Venus Aerospace, Radian Aerospace, Dawn Aerospace, and Virgin Galactic each have their own aircraft in development, with goals ranging from cargo to space tourism. Space drug development has the potential to be hugely promising, but Sierra has a few other arrows in its quiver. It's partnering with Honda to get a next-gen fuel cell into space, and those of you craving smaller and better processors could be in luck too. A startup called Space Forge plans to grow processor substrates in orbit, another area where gentle touchdowns are key. In shattering today's mission cost barriers, Sierra Space might just blow through the semiconductor nanometer barrier, too. Softer cargo There's hope for one more type of cargo to come out of these missions. For now, Dream Chaser is relegated to transport only cargo, but the stumbles of the Starliner program could reopen the door to hauling humans. 'You see a winged body and of course, astronauts, especially test pilots, we want to be in that,' Dr. Marshburn said. 'At any point, we'd be able to leverage the work that's already been done to get that ready.' If that does come to pass, it'll take some time. Tenacity, the first Dream Chaser, is going through final checks at NASA, waiting for its chance to head to the ISS sometime later this year. The second, Reverence, is currently under production. In other words: Watch this space. 0 Comments
