New Frontier Aerospace Tests Mjölnir Engine for High-Speed Hypersonic Travel

New Frontier Aerospace, a space transportation startup with ambitious plans for high-speed point-to-point travel has begun testing the engine that will power their innovative vehicle.

Alex Tai, chairman of New Frontier Aerospace, had confirmed the company performed the first test firing of its Mjölnir engine on July 18.

Mjölnir is a full-flow staged combustion engine, a design known for its high efficiency. This architecture is also used by SpaceX’s Raptor engine and Stoke Space’s reusable launch vehicle. The Mjölnir engine employs liquid oxygen and methane as propellants. Currently, the version of Mjölnir being tested produces less than 3,000 pounds-force of thrust. Future versions intended for vehicle use will generate between 40,000 and 60,000 pounds-force.

“We believe we fired the most advanced rocket motor in the world,” - Alex Tai, Chairman of New Frontier Aerospace

The firing lasted less than a second, but successfully demonstrated the startup of the turbopumps and ignition. New Frontier plans to conduct longer engine burns as part of the ongoing testing program.

New Frontier Aerospace aims to utilize the Mjölnir engine in a vehicle called the Intercontinental Rocketliner. This suborbital vehicle is designed to carry 100 people on high-speed flights around the globe at hypersonic speeds. The vehicle's design, reminiscent of past concepts like the X-33 and VentureStar, will take off and land vertically, using a “boost-cruise-glide” approach to travel through the upper atmosphere.

The company is targeting a market for passenger travel that could enable individuals to journey from one point on the planet to another within a few hours. Additionally, the vehicle has potential military applications for the rapid delivery of cargo or personnel. These markets could be significantly larger than the current market for launching spacecraft.

SpaceX has also shown interest in this market with its Starship vehicle, highlighting its potential to transport people between continents in under an hour and working on the “rocket cargo” initiative with the Air Force Research Lab.

New Frontier Aerospace Chairman has argued that Starship may not be effective for point-to-point travel.

“He’s building a vehicle that is very good to get to Mars...It’s not very efficient at point-to-point. It doesn’t have wings. It’s also too big.” - Alex Tai, Chairman of New Frontier Aerospace

New Frontier Aerospace's leadership team brings extensive experience in the development of such vehicles. Jess Sponable, the company's president, was the Air Force program manager for the DC-X, which demonstrated vertical takeoff and landing technologies for reusable rockets over 30 years ago. He also managed DARPA’s XS-1 project, which aimed to develop a suborbital reusable spaceplane. David Gregory, the chief technology officer, led engine development at Blue Origin and Ursa Major Technologies.

Tai himself is a former chief operating officer of Virgin Galactic and led special projects at Virgin Group. He shared that Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spaceflight was driven by an interest in its potential for point-to-point travel rather than space tourism.

“It was our mission at Virgin Galactic to do point-to-point travel. Space tourism was something that was required for us to prove it was safe for the public to fly into space. It’s something that’s taken a lot longer than I thought,...What we really wanted to be doing is moving Virgin Atlantic passengers to London from L.A. in less than two hours.” - Alex Tai, Chairman of New Frontier Aerospace

A significant challenge for New Frontier Aerospace and other companies pursuing high-speed point-to-point travel is funding.

“A lot of the large providers of finance and resources have been sucked into the black hole that is SpaceX...What we need to have is competition and what we need to have is investment in others.” - Alex Tai, Chairman of New Frontier Aerospace

New Frontier has secured some funding from the Pentagon and NASA to support engine development. However, it will be years before the company is ready to start hypersonic travel, beginning with cargo.

“If we had commercial partners,...we could be operating inside the next decade.” - Alex Tai, Chairman of New Frontier Aerospace