Today in Norway, a German company has marked a new step in Europe’s autonomous access to space. Isar Aerospace carried out the maiden flight of Spectrum, the first orbital rocket launched from continental Europe. However, the flight was short-lived, as the vehicle failed shortly after liftoff.
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A short first flight
At 10:30 UTC, after a smooth launch countdown, the “Going Full Spectrum” mission lifted off from Andøya Spaceport. For this first launch, the rocket did not carry any payload.
Spectrum lifted off from the launch pad slowly, with all engines apparently running. However, about 20 seconds into the flight, the vehicle began to deviate from its nominal trajectory. At T+00:30, the flight was terminated, and the rocket was brought down in a controlled manner into the sea, not far from the launch pad, thus ending the mission.
According to the company, the short flight allowed the teams to gather a substantial amount of flight data and experience to apply on future missions. Also, Isar confirmed that the rockets for the next two test flights are already in production.
Daniel Metzler, CEO and Co-founder of Isar Aerospace, stated: “Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success. We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight, and even got to validate our Flight Termination System. We demonstrated that we can not only design and build but also launch rockets.[…] Now it’s time to analyze all data, learn, iterate, and be back on the launch pad as soon as possible.”
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Spectrum
Founded in 2018, the German space company is developing a two-stage orbital rocket capable of delivering up to 1000 kg of payload to Low Earth Orbit and 700 kg to Sun-synchronous orbits.
The first stage is powered by nine Aquila engines propelled by Oxygen and Propane, while the second stage features a single vacuum-optimized engine.
Isar has already signed several launch contracts with commercial and institutional entities like The European Space Agency (ESA), the German Space Agency (DLR), D-Orbit, Astrocast, Exotrail, Ororatech, and EnduroSat.
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The potential of Andøya Spaceport
The maiden launch of Spectrum has also marked the beginning of orbital operations at Andøya Spaceport. Located on the island of Andøya, in northern Norway, the launch site offers unique access to high-inclination, sun-synchronous, and polar orbits for different orbital missions, such as rapid-response and constellation deployments. The spaceport will support up to 30 missions annually for rockets with up to 1500 kg of payload capacity.
Furthermore, the site hosts launch and test operations of hypersonic and suborbital vehicles for defense and scientific research.
The strategic location of Andøya Spaceport has attracted significant interest in recent years, both commercially and for defense-related needs. Since the 1950s, the island has been home to Andøya Air Station, which supports military operations for the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) and NATO allies in the Arctic region.
On January 16, 2025, the Norwegian government and the US signed a Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) to open future launch opportunities for US commercial companies from Andøya.
On March 19, Andøya Spaceport and Exolaunch announced a strategic partnership for the future satellite integration facility, that will be built in the Near Nordmela village.
Finally, Andøya can be considered one of the most picturesque launch sites in the world. Hopefully, space enthusiasts will enjoy many suggestive launch footage and photos in the coming years.
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