POLARIS Raumflugzeuge

Bremen company developing reusable spaceplanes that take off and land on runways, testing the idea with a fleet of scaled demonstrators and linear aerospike engines. Germany's defense procurement office gave it a 2026 contract for a reusable hypersonic research vehicle.

Products, by altitude

Edge of space · 80–160 km

In development
VEGA hypersonic platform
Reusable spaceplane for repeated hypersonic flight tests

Launch · From the pad to orbit

In development
AURORA light spaceplane
Runway spaceplane that launches small and medium satellites

Milestones

Jan 2026 Received a contract from BAAINBw, Germany's federal defense procurement office, for VEGA, a two-stage, horizontal take-off, fully reusable hypersonic research vehicle. The news post says it covers building and operating the vehicle; the VEGA page calls it a design contract with options for manufacturing and flight tests. Value not disclosed. Company statement⁠¹
Nov 2025 Reported 250 flights by its fleet of scaled demonstrator vehicles. Company statement⁠¹
Jul 2025 Announced an exclusive cooperation agreement with Diehl Defence, signed by the two CEOs at the Paris Air Show (news post dated 5 July 2025). Company statement⁠¹
Jan 2025 Opened a second site at Peenemünde Airport for flight testing and R&D. Company statement⁠¹

Sources

Updated Oct 22, 2026 · How we source facts · Suggest a correction