Sierra Space’s New Partners Accelerate Efforts to Bring the Dream Chaser® Spaceplane to Oita Spaceport

MUFG Bank, Ltd., Tokio Marine, and Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. join Sierra Space, Oita Prefecture, Kanematsu, and Japan Airlines in a study on the utilization of Oita Spaceport. The company looks to the future with a growing global network of landing sites.

Sierra Space, a leading commercial space technology company building a platform in space for the benefit of life on Earth®, announced today that two additional partners will help accelerate the investigation into Oita Spaceport in Kunisaki, Oita, Japan, as a potential landing site in Asia for Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser®. This reaffirms the company’s plans to expand a global network of return locations for the new and revolutionary commercial spaceplane.

MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., key investors in Sierra Space’s Series B funding round, are joining forces with Sierra Space, Oita Prefecture, Kanematsu Corporation, and Japan Airlines to conduct a comprehensive utilization and landing site study at Oita Spaceport. The consortium will work together to identify and develop new commercial opportunities for Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser in Japan and across the Asian continent.

“Our dual-use, fully reusable Dream Chaser spaceplane will transform space travel. Dream Chaser’s unique ability to land on compatible commercial runways around the world – efficiently transporting valuable payloads in a low-gravity landing – opens up a myriad of new global economic opportunities,”

said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space.

“Two important investors in Sierra Space, MUFG Bank, Ltd. and Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., will help extend the robust commercial economy we are building in Low Earth Orbit to businesses and academic institutions in Japan and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. We are honored to share this vision with them, along with our partners in Oita Prefecture, Kanematsu, and Japan Airlines.”

Dream Chaser, the world’s first commercial winged spaceplane, recently arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and has entered operations ahead of its first service mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Dream Chaser fleet is rapidly growing, with a second spaceplane under construction, and the company is evaluating multiple global partnerships to establish the following landing sites in addition to Oita, Japan:

  • Kennedy Space Center, Florida: Space Florida holds a launch and reentry site operator license, issued by the FAA in January 2021, allowing Dream Chaser to land at Space Florida’s Launch & Landing Facility (LLF). The spaceplane, nicknamed Tenacity®, will be the first spacecraft to travel from the ISS to the historic runway since Space Shuttle Atlantis landed on the iconic runway in 2011.
  • Spaceport Cornwall, UK: Sierra Space’s memorandum of understanding with Spaceport Cornwall in June 2021 followed the successful completion of a concept of operations (CONOPS) funded by the UK Space Agency. This examined the US-UK regulatory framework, return mission trajectory analysis, risk analysis, environmental and infrastructure review, and the current and future supply chain capability. The resulting agreement specifically identifies Spaceport Cornwall as a suitable and feasible landing site.
  • Huntsville, Alabama: In May 2022, the FAA issued a license allowing Huntsville International Airport in Alabama to accept landings from Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane. The FAA’s license evaluation process included environmental and safety reviews; the agency will work with Huntsville Airport to develop necessary notifications and other procedures to safely and efficiently integrate commercial space reentries into its operations.
  • Spaceport America, New Mexico: Spaceport America, located in southern New Mexico, is the latest addition to a growing list of compatible runways worldwide where Dream Chaser could land. The agreement was signed in June 2022. This latest addition to the portfolio solidifies Spaceport America as a versatile location, encapsulating Sierra Space’s vision of accessible space for all.

Sierra Space’s products and programs are working towards a more accessible space economy. As the next generation of space transportation, the first Dream Chaser is in pre-launch preparation for its inaugural mission to deliver and return cargo for NASA, delivering up to 12,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS per flight. Dream Chaser is a reusable spaceplane, uniquely capable of a smooth low-gravity return for transporting crews and cargo, with the ability to land on existing commercial runways worldwide.

About Sierra Space

Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company pioneering innovation and commercialization of space in the orbital era®, building an end-to-end technology and business platform in space to benefit life on Earth. With over 30 years and 500 missions of spaceflight heritage, the company is reinventing space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only commercial spaceplane, and the future of space destinations with the company’s inflatable and expandable space station technology. Using commercial business models, the company also provides orbital services to commercial organizations, DoD, and national security, expanding manufacturing capabilities to meet the needs of constellation programs. Additionally, Sierra Space builds a range of systems and subsystems spanning solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion, and thermal control, offering a myriad of space-as-a-service solutions for the new space economy.