Groundbreaking spaceplane crashes before landmark aerospike rocket test

https://newatlas.com/ ^ | May 09, 2024 | Joe Salas

[Jonty30]

It was set to be the world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine, but the MIRA I prototype crashed on takeoff before the most innovative part of its propulsion system could fire. Undeterred, Polaris is building two bigger prototypes. The MIRA I, from German aerospace startup Polaris Raumflugzeuge, was traveling at approximately 105 mph (169 km/h) 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 the 4.25-meter (13.9-ft) long MIRA I to go ahead with the identically shaped 5 m (16 ft) MIRA II and III design. Basically larger copies of the MIRA I.

[Jonty30]

Groundbreaking indeed. Good job editor.

[Yo-Yo]

Maybe Editor should have said “Earth-shattering?”

[MeanWestTexan]

Photo looks like some Nazi scientist design was bushed off and used.

Straight out of Captain America cartoon
.

[telescope115]

Fiberglass airframe? I’m no aviation expert, but it sounds like it was too light…

[BBQToadRibs2]

Looks very 1950’s. Hopefully they gathered enough data to go back to the drawing board.

[Jonty30]

Probably, but I think it’s meant to be a proof-of-concept. If they can get it to work in principle, then they can invest more in a proper model.

[ComputerGuy]

What part of the ground was broken?

[Red Badger]

Aviation Ping!.....................

[Red Badger]

Well, at least it wasn’t Carbon Fiber.................

[dfwgator]

[Red Badger]

The runway.................

[Chainmail]

The usual load of goofy comments! It is a very promising concept - a more efficient, and potentially more valuable spacecraft than the Shuttle.

It was a test model; they break. Sometimes those "failures" make the next version even better because you learn from those events.

The design is an efficient-looking lifting body and what all of you miss, this is a small firm that is making progress in a new and exciting direction. A future spacecraft that takes off from the ground and can fly directly into orbit without boosters, separate stages, and more heavy and expensive parts.

And for the goof that said "it looks too light" - yes, you don't know anything at all about aircraft design.

[texas booster]

[telescope115]

Yup. We’ll see how the later models fare. Hope they are successful!

[texas booster]

The MIRA I prototype, shown in what's presumably a screenshot taken from video moments before its unscheduled disassembly

[texas booster]

[Macho MAGA Man]

(Photo looks like some Nazi scientist design was bushed off and used.)

Look at the engineering team in the photo. Nazis would be insulted with that comment. Too much diversity in that picture. Probably why it crashed.

[MeanWestTexan]

Exactly. Needs Red Skull at the controls laughing maniacally.

[Phlyer]

. . . it’s meant to be a proof-of-concept.

Yes. I'm sure all they want to do is get high and fast enough to show that they can make the aerospike work, and get some data on performance.

Getting to orbit is all about speed. You can get high with low speeds (which, for orbiting spacecraft, can be something around Mach 2). Orbit requires about Mach 20. So the real issue is getting high enough to reduce drag, then go fast. Back when we had the Space Shuttle, if you watch the films you see that they got to Mach 1 at less than one minute into the (almost) nine minute main burn.

Most of that main burn was spent high enough that the bells on the engines were very efficient. Picking up a little efficience (with the aerospike) at Mach 3-4, and losing it from Mach 4 to Mach 20 doesn't sound like a very good optimization.

But I'm all for letting them try, particularly since NASA is not involved. The NASA of nowadays (all DEI and government bureaucrats) has ruined anything manned for the last 30 years.

[Jonty30]

The Show Enterprise, I believe, had this in their intro. A plane that hits high orbits and costs around the earth before coming to a landing wherever it destined.