Yesterday, Isar Aerospace reached Earth orbit on its second launch attempt, marking a major milestone for Europe’s space industry. For the first time, a privately developed rocket has completed an orbital launch from continental Europe.
After a series of delays in recent months, Spectrum successfully lifted off at 20:12 UTC from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. Nearly two and a half minutes later, the second stage separated from the booster and continued its trajectory toward orbit and deployed all five satellites.
“We achieved within a few years what had taken the European space industry decades before. Europe now has sovereign access to space. We have entered into a new chapter for European spaceflight.”
— Daniel Metzler, CEO and Co-Founder of Isar Aerospace
This achievement by the German company is particularly significant, especially considering that its first launch, carried out last year, was cut short by a technical problem just seconds after liftoff.
Aboard today’s mission, Isar carried six passengers, supported by ESA, including five CubeSats and one technological experiment. TU Berlin, the University of Maribor, EnduroSat, NTNU, and TU Wien developed the five satellites, selected through the Microlauncher Competition of the German Space Agency.
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The importance of Isar and Andoya for Europe
Since its foundation in 2018, Isar Aerospace has received several rounds of co-funding as part of ESA’s Boost! program. The company has also signed many launch service contracts with commercial customers worldwide and ESA.
Last March, Isar and Astroscale signed an agreement for the launch of the ELSA-M In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) mission, a major milestone for Astroscale’s end‑of‑life removal services.
An important piece for the activities of Isar and other European companies is the spaceport built on the island of Andøya in Norway.
The site enables a wide range of operations, from orbital launches to defense rocket testing, in a unique geographical position. Being located 300 km north of the Arctic Circle, Andøya allows for easy access to high-inclination, polar, and sun-synchronous orbits. Furthermore, the 25,000-square-kilometer danger area ensures a safety zone unlike any other in continental Europe.
In February, Hypersonica, a European defense startup, announced that a hypersonic missile prototype was tested at Andøya’s rocket range.
But Isar Aerospace is also working on expanding its launch capabilities outside Europe. Last July, the company signed a contract with Maritime Launch Services to establish a dedicated launch complex at Spaceport Nova Scotia in Canada. A decisive step toward advancing Canada’s sovereign access to space for civil and defence missions.
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About Spectrum
The rocket, developed by the German company, is a two-stage vehicle, 28 meters tall. Spectrum is capable of carrying 1000kg of payload to low Earth orbit and 700kg to sun-synchronous orbits.
Spectrum uses liquid oxygen and propane as propellant, which offers high density-specific impulse. The first stage is powered by nine Aquila engines, built in-house. The upper stage is equipped with a single vacuum-optimized version of Aquila.
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