Very good concept but grow it to include disasters requiring medical equipment, water cleaning equipment, so many things this could be used for beyond the warfighter.
The high value of war assets lends itself better to the usecase of such systems. Sure you could use it for many other items, but who will pay the price/kg?
Cool project! It's the first I have heard of it. I hope it is used for good such as transporting rescue supplies to emergency situations. It seems like a scary idea that weapons could be dropped from LEO to any location on Earth
Always glad to see a new post from Sierra Space. On orbit warehousing and global delivery is something I certainly never considered. Which shuttle was in the background?
I like the concept in a way but I guess I don’t fully u understand… 1. How long will this be relevant for the military? They are rapidly transitioning to drones and autonomous vehicles for everything a misfile won’t do. 2. If it will be relevant for a while…Does that mean you have to put thousands of these things in space? If so won’t that clutter an already increasingly crowded domain? 3. Also wouldn't you need to make new entry pods every time there is an advancement in weaponry? I mean you wouldn’t want an M1 Garand dropped to you when you could get a XM7. 4. I’m sure as time goes on it will get cheaper and cheaper to put payloads into space but as of now that’s a really expensive way to get items to soldiers. As long as a base is reasonably close, wouldn’t drones do this job in 90 minutes? If a soldier is on a mission that’s farther than a drone can reach to deploy items wouldn’t they usually have planned for the things they need in advance? 5. The one creator suggested that this could be of use in a fire fight. I agree getting munitions to soldiers in need is crucial but 90 minutes in a fire fight seems like an eternity. As long as the resupply gets there before someone is over run it’s great but if 90 minutes is too long it doesn’t help at all. 6. (To a lesser extent) The only thing that these pods will be able to deliver is what is preloaded on them. If the soldier needed anything else it won’t really help anyway. I know they can put the things most usually needed on them but still. Like I said I think the concept could be really useful and any advancements could help in other areas too. I am truly asking these questions I’m not being sarcastic. Am I not fully understanding the idea or are my concerns mislead?
Exciting technology, one wonders however how material that could be relevant to military operations such as ammunition or medical supplies could be packed in a way that allows it to survive weeks if not months in space plus the re-entry and impact. Looking forward to updates on this over the next years !
What a great Idea! Lots of Great Ideas out there, but few actually DOING these things. WOW! Mind Blown as I think of the long game here. Capabilities not even thought of are being answered.
Not sure how the umbrella design and its mechanism could survive re-entry. The tests look more like shield dynamics studies for sub-scale model? Something i'ven't seen it before for sure. Great effort.
Sierra Space Ghost is a delivery system for 90-minute delivery to and from anywhere around the globe without the SpaceX Starship needing to land. The SpaceX Starship or any other spaceship that has a Bombay door can use the Space Ghost. The Space Ghost has a shield to survive the burning atmosphere. After it slows, a parachute is released, and the shield is let go so the Ghost lands gently. One question: what happens to the hurtling shield? I hope it doesn’t go through my roof!
This is very cool! Also, I've been on day three of no water and two emergency resupply denied do to "black air" . Resupply from space would be able to circumvent that.
Now wait a minute. The test was of this re-entry heat shield from a few thousand feet. IT EXPERIENCED UNSTABLE TUMBLING IMMEDIATELY. Their solution: a drag chute. They are going to use a drag chute to stabilize their re-entry heat shield from orbit? Maybe they need to think this through some more.
Oy. Hyperloop vaporware in space. Bold though posting shots of 1st gen emptiness. Interesting idea, but betting this goes nowhere. Hope I’m wrong. Please, prove me wrong.
SO you're going to have a number of these "space lockers®" just floating about in space waiting for someone to call in for a drop? How do you know what to stock them with to make it useful enough and how is it worth devloping over, say, just a well-executed standard airdrop of materials?
I wonder if this configuration of upside down umbrella is a stable one..? the tumbling would suggest not, but it may be a matter of finding the right CG and mass distribution. although you don;'t want a vehicle that falls well most of the time but occasionally tumbles... You would think they are using CFD and lots of sub scale prototypes to drop them. anyone ever hear of the box copter? it was a similar concept. also the regallo wing as an inflatable parachute would serve a similar purpose. seems like. video game, for the warfighter to call for resupply and just have it appear out of no where. cool.
I wonder how many of these you would need to fit a field hospital inside or a willys jeep. It'll be interesting to see what sort of medication can withstand long term storage in space.
In an ideal world, we are not involved in warfare for decades. This system assumes war supplies to be needed much more frequently. Unless delivering equipment that is years old makes sense.
would it be possible to upscale this to some kind of "exsacpe pod" for one human. I imagine something like the "landing capusles" from the book "Starshiptroopers". I think of ONE capsule pro Astronaut on board of a future Spacestation, for the purpose of emergency evacuation, when there is no time to board the regular escape vehicles. The "pod" would get jettinsoned from the station towards earth, would break thrue orbit and then jettison the heatshild so that the Astronaut would land either by parachute, or inside the remaining pod under parachute (completly encapsulated and cushioned. The problem is in an "emergency" they have no time to do on their regular space suit, so they may land on earth in their underwear, so the pod must also provide survivability for (i don´t know what NASA sets a recovery time), inside the capsule, including clothing etc.
A surprising amount of real tests match what we experience in Kerbal Space Program 🤣🤣 Heat shields tumble quite easily and rocket with fins forward really will take any excuse to fly backwards.
am i the only one who thinks that they just made a lunchbox that deploys a parachute? like yeah there is a shield on it but like i dont get the special innovative part help me
"there is launch, on orbit, and return, this technology puts us in the return".. wait.. what? i thought the dream chaser already had you in the "return" business. the tumbling test is hilarious, i hope that was just for fun.. cause it was certainly a waste of a prototype, cheap though it may be. engineers would've known that that test would just be for fun only.. to watch it tumble... i hope.
