COLORADO SPRINGS — The German national space agency DLR and Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Space Systems extended their Dream Chaser development partnership Thursday, assuring more high-paying aerospace jobs for Colorado, Space Systems chief Mark Sirangelo said.
The cooperation agreement, inked during the 31st annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, also assures work will continue to develop the Dream Chaser for European use.
The previous agreement between Space Systems and DLR included a feasibility study of crewed and uncrewed Dream Chaser flights to low-Earth orbit that determined that the spacecraft would be viable for European missions, including microgravity science and satellite servicing.
“The versatility of the Dream Chaser — crewed or uncrewed — allows for multiple applications such as transportation of cargo and humans as well as direct use for activities such as removing space debris,” DLR chairman Jan Wöerner said.
Wöerner will take the helm of the European Space Agency on July 1, placing him in a position of direct influence over programs in the agency’s 20 member states.
The company does not yet know how many jobs the deal will create but the new work will be in Colorado.
Sierra Nevada Corp. — Space Systems’ parent company — announced in February plans for a new Colorado Springs-based subsidiary called Sierra Completions.
The company is building an $88 million campus at the Colorado Aerospace Park at Colorado Springs Airport capable of hosting more than 2,100 workers.
and $4.4 million in incentives from the state’s strategic fund to help land the deal. Sierra Nevada pledged to locate 1,323 jobs in Colorado Springs.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
This online archive has been edited to correct an error in fact provided by a source. The deal between Space Systems and the German space agency will create jobs in Colorado, but how many and where they will be located is unknown.
