Bremen-based startup POLARIS Spaceplanes announced that it had completed the first roll tests of its MIRA demonstrator.
MIRA is a 4.3-metre demonstrator that features a fiber-reinforced shell, four kerosene-fed turbine engines, and one aerospike rocket engine. The 210-kilogram vehicle is a subscale prototype of the company’s AURORA vehicle, which will be capable of delivering 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit with the aid of an expendable upper stage.
The first MIRA roll test under turbine engine power was conducted on 18 October. The test involved the vehicle rolling down a runway under its own power. In addition to the roll test, POLARIS also tested the vehicle’s flight termination system. The system includes a rescue parachute that is deployed with the aid of a small solid rocket motor in the event of an emergency during flight. This recovery system will, however, only be used aboard the flight demonstrators as a means to accelerate the operational licence approval process.
POLARIS conducted this round of testing at the old Lemwerder airport near Bremen, Germany. The airport is noteworthy as it’s the same location that EADS used for the roll tests of its Phoenix spaceplane demonstrator. Phoenix was a prototype of Hopper, a proposed European Space Agency spaceplane that was pursued under the agency’s Future European Space Transportation Investigations Programme.
Initial flight tests of MIRA under turbine engine power are expected to begin in the next two to three weeks. Following that round of testing, POLARIS will look to conduct the first flight tests that include the ignition of the vehicle’s aerospike rocket engine before the end of the year.
