German startup loses prototype of aerospike spaceplane during test
The prototype aerospike test spaceplane of the German startup Polaris Spaceplanes was destroyed recently during its first test flight.
The MIRA I, from German aerospace startup Polaris Raumflugzeuge, was traveling at approximately 105 mph during takeoff when a “landing gear steering reaction” plus a side wind caused a “hard landing event,” rendering the space plane inoperable and it’s fiberglass airframe damaged beyond repair.
Its subsystems remained mostly intact – however, rather than attempt to repair the prototype spaceplane, Polaris has opted to decommission 13.9-foot-long MIRA I to go ahead with the identically shaped 16 foot MIRA II and III design.
Had it flown, it would have been the first flight test ever of an aerospike nozzle. Such a nozzle has been proposed by engineers for decades to take full advantage of the changing atmospheric pressure as a rocket lifts off. Traditional nozzles can only be shaped for one specific air pressure, and lose efficiency as the pressure changes. By using the air pressure to form one wall of the nozzle, an aerospike uses that changing pressure to always function at the highest efficiency.
The company hopes to use this design to eventually create a spaceplane that will take off from a runway, reach orbit, and then return to a runway, all without any additional stages.
Neither of the upcoming prototypes however will be able to do this. Their purpose will mostly be to test the aerospike engine at various altitudes. The company hopes to fly its full scale spaceplane, dubbed Aurora, in ’26 or ’27.
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The prototype aerospike test spaceplane of the German startup Polaris Spaceplanes was destroyed recently during its first test flight.
The MIRA I, from German aerospace startup Polaris Raumflugzeuge, was traveling at approximately 105 mph during takeoff when a “landing gear steering reaction” plus a side wind caused a “hard landing event,” rendering the space plane inoperable and it’s fiberglass airframe damaged beyond repair.
Its subsystems remained mostly intact – however, rather than attempt to repair the prototype spaceplane, Polaris has opted to decommission 13.9-foot-long MIRA I to go ahead with the identically shaped 16 foot MIRA II and III design.
Had it flown, it would have been the first flight test ever of an aerospike nozzle. Such a nozzle has been proposed by engineers for decades to take full advantage of the changing atmospheric pressure as a rocket lifts off. Traditional nozzles can only be shaped for one specific air pressure, and lose efficiency as the pressure changes. By using the air pressure to form one wall of the nozzle, an aerospike uses that changing pressure to always function at the highest efficiency.
The company hopes to use this design to eventually create a spaceplane that will take off from a runway, reach orbit, and then return to a runway, all without any additional stages.
Neither of the upcoming prototypes however will be able to do this. Their purpose will mostly be to test the aerospike engine at various altitudes. The company hopes to fly its full scale spaceplane, dubbed Aurora, in ’26 or ’27.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Just going to leave this here:
https://youtu.be/D4SaofKCYwo?si=e-rNe9D_uw0LHwpC
Also, although much research has been put into the concept of SSTO, few governments or companies have found it promising enough to pursue it. The draconian requirements of the rocket equation seem to suggest that, barring a yet to be found suite of miracle materials or propulsive elements, although it is possible to put a spacecraft in orbit using a single stage, it wouldn’t be carrying much else with it. The Skylon, an enormous spaceplane concept, would barely be able to field 11 tons to ISS. And that’s if they can even get it to work within such tight margins at all. SSTO from Earth’s surface is right on the edge of possible and may be outside our capabilities for awhile yet.
I applaud the effort though. Ever since first seeing the DC-Y and X-33 concept proposal videos, I’ve longed to see the all-in-one spacecraft take flight and land again. I wish Polaris good luck!
This is why I keep harping about the idea of the rocket AS payload.
I think launch vehicles should be designed for a different kind of re-use—re-use in orbit as wet-workshops.
Now Imagine you had a space shuttle orbiter that contained not payload—but oxygen.
The big hydrogen has its payload on top—has foam covered in an outer layer to prevent popcorning—and is designed to be left in orbit.
The all LOX orbiter comes back unmanned—with only it sporting a TPS, not a whole Skylon or Starship.
Or have the orbiter be all Kerosene (denser) and the External Tank all LOX.
STS/SLS are de facto stage-and-a-half to orbit systems (with strap-ons).
SSTOs are not a problem.
Flying a big rocket to orbit is no biggie—-trying to get it all back? That is.
I don’t want to diminish the company’s performance, but the thing is more or less a slightly larger model airplane.
Questioner: An excellent point that I forgot to mention.