WE DID IT!
POLARIS PERFORMS THE FIRST EVER IN-FLIGHT IGNITION OF A LINEAR AEROSPIKE ROCKET ENGINE
In the afternoon of Tuesday, 29th of October, we wrote a piece of aerospace history: our latest flight demonstrator MIRA II successfully ignited and operated our 1 kN LOX/kerosene linear aerospike engine AS-1F in flight. With that, MIRA II is now the first aerospace vehicle to ever fire a linear aerospike in flight.
The historic flight took place from the Airport of Peenemünde. MIRA II roared into a cloudy and misty sky under turbine thrust and ignited the aerospike over the Baltic Sea, approximately 3 kilometers away from the ground station.
For safety reasons, we took off with reduced propellant loading (229 kg vehicle take-off mass), limited the burn time to 3 seconds in this very first aerospike flight and operated under reduced chamber pressure. Nevertheless, MIRA II experienced an acceleration of 4 m/s2, equivalent to 900 N of thrust, while simultaneously gaining altitude.
After the fully successful first aerospike flight, MIRA II returned to the airport and landed safely. The flight took three-and-a-half minutes in total, covering a distance of more than 10 kilometers.
We executed the MIRA II flight test program at an incredible pace:
• 25th of October: First flight under turbine power
• 26th of October: Second flight under turbine power
• 27th of October: Third flight under turbine power
• 28th of October: Aerospike propulsion system integration
• 29th of October around noon: Aerospike roll test
• 29th of October in the afternoon: First aerospike flight
We are incredibly proud of these achievements and look forward to the next set of flight campaigns, that will gradually extend engine operation range and vehicle performance envelope.
While gearing up for the next aerospike flights with MIRA II and its twin sister MIRA III, we are already preparing the development of the supersonic prototype NOVA, that will have a length of 7-8 meters and that will bring us (literally!) to new heights
Full (aerospike) thrust ahead!
We’d like to thank all those who supported us in these flight projects, including Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces), Peenemünde Airport and its CEO Dr. Thomas Lamla, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), Aviation Authority of the Federal State of Bremen, HDI Global SE, ANCORA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs GmbH, Office of Prof. Elmar Giemulla and Dr. van Schyndel, Bundesnetzagentur, ABEKING & RASMUSSEN Schiffs- und Yachtwerft SE, SGL Carbon, many more … and of course our investors, and the whole POLARIS team that did an outstanding job!
