Sierra is developing a green fuel system for its Dream Chaser spacecraft, aiming for safety without hazardous material suits. The propulsion system still requires testing and certification, affecting the mission timeline. Modifications to the initial mission may involve flying close to the ISS without berthing to gather essential data. A final decision on this approach has not been reached. The availability of the Vulcan launch vehicle also poses additional challenges, making the debut of Dream Chaser unlikely within the current year.
"We wanted to have a fuel system that was green instead of using hypergolics, so we could land it on a runway and we could walk up to the vehicle without being in hazmat suits."
"We still have some of our integrated safety reviews to do, and we're in the process with updating both of our schedules to try to understand where does that really put us."
Sierra is considering a modification to its first mission to shorten the certification period due to ongoing testing of the propulsion system.
It's highly unlikely that Dream Chaser will be ready for its debut spaceflight this year for technical reasons.
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