sierra nevada corporation . sierra nevada corporation s space systems formerly spacedev inc. type subsidiary industry aerospace & defense founded poway california 1997 headquarters poway california key people mark n. sirangelo ceo principal executive officer and chairman of the board of directors . richard b. slansky president and cfo . principal financial and accounting officer . scott tibbitts managing director and director . james s. voss vice president . products small spacecraft propulsion products and services space components and mechanisms structures revenue usd 33 million 2006 number of employees 208 website http www.spacedev.com spacedev a part of the space systems business of sierra nevada corporation is prominent for its spaceflight and microsatellite work . it designed and built the hybrid rocket motors for paul allen s tier one suborbital spaceshipone space program operated by scaled composites . it is also developing micro and nano satellites a small expendable launch vehicle the spacedev streaker and has designed a piloted suborbital and orbital spaceship of its own the spacedev dream chaser in collaboration with nasa . spacedev is based near san diego in poway california . its objective is to make routine commercial spaceflight possible and to help open space for all of humanity . previously a publicly traded company otcbb spdv on 20 october 2008 spacedev officials announced that the company would be acquired by sierra nevada corporation a privately owned company . the announced acquisition price was 38 million dollars . the role of spacedev will be melded into another of sierra nevada s subsidiary companies microsat to create a more complete space technology unit . 1 2 on december 16 2008 spacedev announced its acquisition by sierra nevada corporation had been completed . 3 contents 1 history 2 dream chaser 3 trailblazer 4 streaker 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit spacedev was founded in 1997 by jim benson who acquired integrated space systems of southern california and then acquired a dormant publicly traded colorado corporation through a reverse acquisition to create the publicly traded spacedev . for a while spacedev also owned uk based space innovations limited . 4 in august 1998 spacedev acquired all patents intellectual property test results and documents that had been produced by the out of business american rocket company amroc . on august 6 1998 the united states securities and exchange commission filed an administrative proceeding alleging securities fraud against spacedev inc. according to the sec spacedev promotes itself extensively on the internet . the sec alleged that the company made false and misleading statements over the internet and via other media in violation of u.s. securities laws in an attempt to increase its stock value . the sec was seeking cease and desist orders against spacedev and its chairman james w. benson . a settlement was reached between the sec spacedev and james w. benson . the settlement states that the sec was founded in its allegations and spacedev cease and desist from committing or causing violations or future violations of section 17 a of the securities act and section 10 b of the exchange act and rule 10b 5 thereunder ; and mr. benson cease and desist from committing or causing violations or future violations of section 17 a of the securities act and section 10 b of the exchange act and rule 10b 5 thereunder . 5 the company s first big project was to be the near earth asteroid prospector or neap a small innovative commercial spacecraft mission that would have rendezvoused with and landed on a near earth asteroid neo conducted scientific experiments and claimed the asteroid as private property . citation needed as it turned out however the company s first success would come a little closer to home in the form of chipsat 1 the cosmic hot interstellar plasma spectrometer microsatellite . spacedev built and conducted early orbit operations of the low earth orbit leo microsat the first to use only the internet for its communications for university of california at berkeley under nasa s university explorer program unex . this was followed one year later by supplying the rocket motors that propelled spaceshipone into the history books by creating the world s first civilian astronauts and helping paul allen win the 10 million ansari x prize . on october 26 2005 spacedev announced that starsys research corporation of boulder colorado would merge with spacedev which would provide spacedev with additional expertise and experience with microsatellite technologies . 6 the acquisition of starsys on january 31 2006 put the number of spacedev employees over 200 located in three states . the starsys division is being groomed to become a center of space robotics for spacedev . over 18 years starsys developed and delivered 2 000 space mechanisms that have flown on over 200 missions all successfully . spacedev has most or all of the moving parts on mars at this time had mechanisms on deep impact is supplying the separation system and docking mechanism for the soon to be launched orbital express and has mechanisms on the way to pluto . on september 28 2006 spacedev announced that founder and ceo jim benson was stepping down to start a new space tourism venture benson space company bsc . bsc expects to be one of spacedev s largest customers purchasing multiple dream chaser spaceships and safe hybrid rocket motors for use in personal spaceflight . 7 benson died on 10 october 2008 of a brain tumor . dream chaser edit main article spacedev dream chaser on november 16 2005 spacedev announced 8 its dream chaser concept for a four passenger sub orbital and a six passenger orbital vehicle both based on nasa s hl 20 personnel launch system or space taxi . spacedev s suborbital dream chaser will use internal hybrid rocket motors similar to those spacedev developed for paul allen s spaceshipone while the orbital version will use the internal motors plus larger external hybrid motors . spacedev s hybrid rocket technology was pioneered by the american rocket company or amroc . on may 5 2006 spacedev announced it was selected as a finalist in nasa s 500 million commercial orbital transportation services cots demonstration program . 9 spacedev has been working with nasa ames to design a modern version of the nasa hl 20 personnel launch system called the spacedev dream chaser . however on august 18 2006 it was revealed that spacedev did not win the contract . 10 on december 18 2006 spacedev announced that it has been awarded a 330 000 phase i study contract from benson space company to further the spacedev dream chaser spaceship program . the study will contribute to the ongoing development of the spaceship and will result in space vehicle and rocket motor designs ready for phase ii vehicle fabrication and testing . the spacedev dream chaser spaceship is based on nasa s design of the ten passenger orbital hl 20 personnel launch system and will launch vertically and land horizontally in direct sight of viewers . on april 10 2007 spacedev announced 11 that it had finalized a memorandum of understanding with united launch alliance on exploring the potential of launching the spacedev dream chaser spaceship using an atlas v 431 having a four meter diameter fairing three solid rocket boosters and a single centaur engine in the second stage . destinations could include the international space station iss and other commercial orbital destinations as well as for commercial orbital space tourism flights . on february 1 2010 nasa announced a 20 million award to sierra nevada to go toward development of the spacedev dream chaser which could be ready for launch by 2014 on united launch alliance s atlas v rocket according to mark sirangelo corporate vice president for sierra nevada s space systems division . on august 3 2012 nasa announced new agreements with the sierra nevada corporation and two other companies to design and develop the next generation of u.s. human spaceflight capabilities enabling a launch of astronauts from u.s. soil in the next five years . advances made by these companies under newly signed space act agreements through the agency s commercial crew integrated capability ccicap initiative are intended to ultimately lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers . as part of this agreement sierra nevada corporation was awarded 212.5 million ostensibly to continue development and testing of its dream chaser spacecraft . 12 trailblazer edit main article trailblazer satellite spacedev manufactured the trailblazer satellite selected by the operationally responsive space office for its jumpstart mission . trailblazer was a microsatellite developed under a missile defense agency contract . after being launched trailblazer would have collected image data and communicated with a ground station . 13 trailblazer was the primary payload for the third attempted flight of a falcon 1 launch vehicle . the launch was attempted on 2008 08 03 and ended in failure with loss of both vehicle and payload . citation needed trailblazer was researched designed assembled tested and packed for shipping almost entirely at the poway spacedev location . with a team of about 25 employees working around the clock the satellite was assembled and ready for launch in just under 4 months thus meeting their advanced deadline winning their opportunity for launch and as far as anyone else is able to substantiate now holds the record for assembly of a launched spacecraft . citation needed streaker edit main article streaker rocket the streaker is a rocket created by spacedev that is designed to be a low cost launch vehicle . 14 15 see also edit this section is empty . you can help by adding to it . june 2013 references edit aviation week & space technology vol . 169 no. 16 27 oct. 2008 changing hands p. 16 http www.sncorp.com news default.shtml sierra nevada corporation newsletter snc signed agreement to acquire spacedev spacedev acquired by sierra nevada corporation . spacedev . december 16 2008 . space innovations limited management reacquires company from spacedev . space ref . january 14 2000 . retrieved 2006 08 26 . united states securities and exchange commission ruling against spacedev . united states securities and exchange commission . april 13 1999 . spacedev and starsys sign merger agreement . spacedev . october 26 2005 . spacedev founder jim benson launches civilian spaceflight venture benson space company . spaceref . september 28 2006 . spacedev announces spacedev dream chaser space transport system . spacedev . november 16 2005 . spacedev selected as a finalist in nasa s commercial orbital transportation services cots solicitation . spacedev . may 15 2006 . johnson travis august 22 2006 . spacedev loses cots contract competition . seeking alpha . spacedev and the united launch alliance to explore launching the dream chaser on an atlas v launch vehicle . spacedev . april 10 2007 . nasa announces next steps in effort to launch americans from u.s. soil . launch details trailblazer falcon 1 . faa . spacedev streaker . retrieved 30 june 2013 . spacedev begins development of its small launch vehicle spacedev streaker . apr 5 2005 . retrieved 30 june 2013 . spacedev dream chaser feb 21 2011 external links edit spacedev web site v t e space tourism companies armadillo aerospace bigelow aerospace blue origin airbus d & s golden spike company mojave aerospace ventures orbital sciences corporation citation needed rocketship tours sierra nevada corporation space adventures the spaceship company spacex virgin galactic xcor aerospace organizations arca association of autonomous astronauts astronaute club europ en commercial spaceflight federation copenhagen suborbitals space frontier foundation space tourism society spacecraft interplanetary transport system cst 100 spaceshiptwo soyuz dragon new shepard new glenn living in space commercialization of space space colonization space habitat space station suborbital spaceplane space competitions america s space prize ansari x prize google lunar x prize space elevator competitions space tourists dennis tito mark shuttleworth gregory olsen anousheh ansari charles simonyi richard garriott guy