Sierra Nevada Cargo System

[Tommygun]

Now just add a tail hook and you can launch and recover from an aircraft carrier......

[Superluminaut]

Wait a minute, wasn't dream chaser suppose to sit on top of a rocket, no fairing. So because they added the dumb module they need to add fairing, which required the folding wings. ... yea

[Reddragon]

It looks like yet another desperate attempt to stick wings on something that doesn't need them.

I think this describes it the best.

[Kryten]

Wait a minute, wasn't dream chaser suppose to sit on top of a rocket, no fairing. So because they added the dumb module they need to add fairing, which required the folding wings. ... yea

The folding wing is to make it LV-agnostic; having a bare payload like that would require reprogramming the control system at least, and there are quite possibly LVs for which there exposed vehicle configuration would be impossible to fly.

[Budgie]

The folding wing is to make it LV-agnostic; having a bare payload like that would require reprogramming the control system at least, and there are quite possibly LVs for which there exposed vehicle configuration would be impossible to fly.

But obviously a crewed Dreamchaser flight would do without the fairings, right? You can't abort out of clamshell fairings should something go wrong

[Reddragon]

But obviously a crewed Dreamchaser flight would do without the fairings, right? You can't abort out of clamshell fairings should something go wrong

A crewed flight would be without fairings, yes.

[GreenWolf]

But obviously a crewed Dreamchaser flight would do without the fairings, right? You can't abort out of clamshell fairings should something go wrong

Not necessarily. IIRC, Soyuz launches inside a fairing, but still has abort capability. You just have to jettison the fairings quickly.

[Francesco]

Not necessarily. IIRC, Soyuz launches inside a fairing, but still has abort capability. You just have to jettison the fairings quickly.

Soyuz aborts by separating from the rocket together with the fairing: the fairing itself provides stability while the LES fires, and is then jettisoned.

[magnemoe]

Soyuz aborts by separating from the rocket together with the fairing: the fairing itself provides stability while the LES fires, and is then jettisoned.

Yes, it looks like orion will do the same, think apollo did to.

[sgt_flyer]

yup, there was a conical protective fairing around the command module during the launches. it was used to protect it during ascent against various things (airflow, could be of help against potential bird strikes, heat from air compression, and the LES engine's exhaust (as it was still fired during normal ascent to eject the fairing and the LES from the rocket)

for the different kind of aborts :

for soyuz, the LES is supposed to pull roughly 2/3rd of the fairing (just under the retracted grid fins) and both the orbital module and the descent module. the last 1/3rd of the fairing and the soyuz service module were left with the rocket. just after separation, the grid fins on soyuz would deploy, providing a lot of drag at the tail end of the whole - providing a very good stability. near the end of the LES burn, the descent module simply detaches from the orbital module, and fall from the bottom of the fairings.

for Apollo, the LES pulls both the protective fairing and the command module. near the end of the capsule burn, canard surfaces are deployed from the LES, forcing the capsule to make a 180° turn, so the command module's heatshield is facing prograde. the apollo capsule then separate from the LES and the conical fairing (due to the shape and the density of the empty thing, drag would be enough to slow them while the apollo capsule drifts away for it's own landing.)