Polaris Spaceplanes to Build Hypersonic Test Vehicle for Germany

The German arms procurement agency has commissioned Bremen-based startup Polaris Spaceplanes to design a hypersonic research vehicle.

The contract includes follow-on options for production and flight-testing of the full-size vehicle.

Apart from serving as a hypersonic testbed and experimental platform for defense and scientific research, the reusable vehicle can be used as a small-satellite launcher when using an expendable upper-stage.

Additional possible missions include reconnaissance in and outside of the atmosphere, according to Hartpunkt.

The prototype is expected to be ready by 2028.

The 28-meter (92-feet) vehicle will be able to take off and land on runways and reportedly carry a payload of up to 1 ton in low-Earth orbit.

It uses a jet engine for takeoff, landing, and cruise and an aerospike rocket engine to accelerate to a hypersonic speed of over Mach 5.

The startup has produced three of the test vehicle demonstrators since September 2024.

The 5-meter (16-foot) demonstrators weigh 250 kilograms/551 pounds each and have clocked over 100 test flights since their launch.

According to Hartpunkt, an 8-meter (26-foot)-long vehicle, with a weight of up to 1.5 tons, is expected to be in the air by the end of 2025.