Sierra Space Corporation is a privately held

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

and space technologies company headquartered in

Louisville, Colorado The City of Louisville () is a home rule municipality located in southeastern Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 21,226 at the 2020 United States census. Louisville began as a mining community in 1877, experienc ...

, with additional facilities in Colorado,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and a testing site at the

Marshall Space Flight Center Marshall Space Flight Center (officially the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center; MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville postal address), is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government's ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. The company makes spaceflight hardware for various applications across the industry. It is currently developing the

Dream Chaser Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane developed by Sierra Space. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the Dream Chaser Cargo System cargo variant is opera ...

spaceplane. The spaceplane was selected by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

to provide services to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

under NASA's Commercial Resupply Service 2 contract. The company is also in collaboration with

Blue Origin Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is an American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own ...

to develop components of the Orbital Reef space station.

History

Sierra Space is a spin-off from

Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (also styled SNC) is an American aerospace, defense, electronics, engineering and manufacturing corporation that specializes in aircraft modification, integration and other space technologies. The corporation contracts ...

that was established as an independent commercial space company in April 2021. Its parent company, the Sierra Nevada Corporation, was a long established aerospace development company which was founded in 1963. Sierra Space operates facilities in 6 states including Colorado, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, and Alabama. In October 2022,

and Sierra Space partnered to jointly develop the world's first commercially owned and operated space station, Orbital Reef. Orbital Reef will be a “mixed-use business park in space in low Earth orbit (LEO) for commerce, research, and tourism by the end of this decade." Sierra Space and Blue Origin received a $130 million contract to develop the Orbital Reef space station. It is expected to be operational by 2027. Sierra Space expects to announce its first astronaut trainees in 2023. In April 2023, Sierra Space and

ILC Dover ILC Dover is a special engineering development and manufacturing company, globally headquartered in Frederica, Delaware. It specializes in the use of high-performance flexible materials, serving the aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, personal pr ...

announced their partnership for developing of inflatable space station modules and spacesuits. ILC Dover will be the exclusive partner in providing soft goods for Sierra Space's Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) modules for commercial space stations. Sierra Space and the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

announced a partnership in July 2023. Under a 27-month, $22.6 million contract, Sierra Space will develop a 35,000 lbf

thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that ...

upper stage engine, known as the Vortex (VR35K-A). Work for the Vortex involves designing flight-weight engine components through the use of component and integrated

breadboard A breadboard, solderless breadboard, or protoboard is a construction base used to build semi-permanent prototypes of electronic circuits. Unlike a perfboard or stripboard, breadboards do not require soldering or destruction of tracks and are h ...

engine test data. In August 2023, Sierra Space announced that it would be collaborating with BioServe Space Technologies to grow

hematopoietic Haematopoiesis (; ; also hematopoiesis in American English, sometimes h(a)emopoiesis) is the formation of blood cellular components. All cellular blood components are derived from haematopoietic stem cells. In a healthy adult human, roughly ten ...

stem cells in

microgravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

to research undergoing treatment for

blood cancer Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are al ...

. The same month, the company also partnered with

Redwire Redwire Corporation is an American aerospace manufacturer and space infrastructure technology company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville, Florida. The company was formed on June 1, 2020, by the private equity firm AE Industrial ...

on a biotech experiment platform that will be installed on Sierra Space's commercial space station LIFE module. Reports in November 2023 indicated that Sierra Space laid off 165 workers in a realignment of the company. There were additional layoffs in October 2024. Tom Vice, who had served as CEO since 2021, retired at the end of 2024. He was replaced by Fatih Ozmen.

Products

Sierra Space provides a mix of products and services in three areas: transportation, destinations, and applications.

Transportation

Initial cargo flights of the

vehicle are planned under NASA's Commercial Resupply Contract with follow-on cargo, crewed and other missions available for commercial, civil, and national security uses. On September 8, 2022, Sierra Space announced it signed a CRADA with the

United States Transportation Command The United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is one of the eleven Unified combatant command, unified commands of the United States Department of Defense. In both times of peace and war, USTRANSCOM's role is to provide the Department of ...

to develop concepts for using Dream Chaser space planes and Shooting Star cargo modules for “timely global delivery of Department of Defense logistics and personnel." The first Dream Chaser, DC-101 Tenacity, completed assembly in November 2023. The vehicle will be shipped to NASA's Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility for environmental testing.

Destinations

Products from Sierra Space's Destinations organization include the

Orbital Reef Orbital Reef is a low Earth orbit (LEO) space station under development. It is designed by Blue Origin and Sierra Space for Commercial astronaut, commercial space activities and space tourism uses. Blue Origin has referred to it as a "mixed-us ...

space station (in partnership with

) and the

LIFE Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

habitat. Through NASA's NextSTEP project, Sierra Space completed its successful test in July 2022, which a maximum burst pressure rate of 192 psi. It then completed its second sub-scale ultimate burst pressure test on November 15, 2022 that achieved a 204 psi burst pressure rate. The safety requirement is 182.4 psi. The full-scale LIFE pressure tests began in 2023, and on January 22, 2024 the company announced a successful full scale burst test of the LIFE habitat, exceeding safety margins by 27%.

Applications

Applications products include three areas: *Rocket Engines & Propulsion *Space Technology & Subsystems *Environmental Systems

Satellite Bus Line

In early 2024, Sierra announced their own satellite bus line named Velocity, Horizon, and Titan.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sierra Space official website
Aerospace companies of the United States American companies established in 2021 Private spaceflight companies Rocket engine manufacturers of the United States Space Act Agreement companies Technology companies established in 2021