Chasing a dream

US firm SpaceDev has designed a passenger vehicle for low-orbital and orbital flights for NASA, in the latest step towards commercial space travel.

In a study for the space agency, the California-based company has designed the Dream Chaser, a sixpassenger concept vehicle that would use scaled-up versions of the non-explosive hybrid rocket motors used in last year’s X Prizewinning SpaceShipOne.

The company said the spacecraft could be used for manned low-orbital missions by 2008. The Dream Chaser’s hybrid propulsion system burns rubber and nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. The 15m-long craft will be able to fly to altitudes of about 100 miles, with SpaceDev’s hybrid rocket motor providing approximately six times the thrust of the motors on SpaceShipOne.

It is expected to debut as a reusable piloted sub-orbital ship in initial tests. However, in the future it could be used to dock with the International Space Station or even a commercial space hotel orbiting Earth. For orbital travel the Dream Chaser would be fitted with even larger versions of the hybrid boosters.