POLARIS Spaceplanes has secured €5.4 million in new funding through an oversubscribed top-up to its recent seed round.
Founded in 2019, POLARIS Spaceplanes is developing a multipurpose spaceplane and hypersonic transport system called AURORA. With the addition of an expendable upper stage, the spaceplane is designed to be capable of delivering payloads of up to 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.
On 13 June, the company announced that it had completed an oversubscribed top-up to its seed funding round. The extension was co-led by Capnamic Ventures Bremen and Spacewalk VC, with significant contributions from Dienes Holding and E2MC Ventures. With the additional €5.4 million, POLARIS has now raised a total of €12.4 million.
In an update published on LinkedIn, the company explained that the new funding would be used to bring its first commercial product to market, pre-fund upcoming customer contracts, and prepare for a planned large funding round.
Since its founding, POLARIS has been developing progressively larger prototypes to validate key technologies and operational concepts. The company is currently working on two demonstrators, MIRA II and MIRA III. Each vehicle measures approximately five metres in length and is equipped with jet turbines for takeoff and landing, as well as one of the company’s in-house-developed AS-1 aerospike rocket engines for hypersonic flight.
In November 2024, the company completed the first in-flight ignition of its aerospike engine, which was integrated into the MIRA II demonstrator. The LOX/kerosene-fuelled AS-1 rocket engine is capable of producing approximately 1 kN of thrust.
In addition to ongoing testing of its MIRA II and MIRA III demonstrators, the company is also developing in-flight refuelling capabilities to extend the range and increase the payload capacity of its AURORA system. POLARIS has already completed several flights with its ALEDA and Mini MIRA II demonstrators, which focused on close-proximity formation flying. In early May, the company announced that it was preparing for its first docking experiments.
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