The second test flight of the Spectrum rocket was under the motto “Onward and Upward”. On Saturday, the team began refueling the rocket in the late afternoon at the launch pad in Andøya, Norway, almost 300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. At around 10:12 p.m. German time, the Spectrum was able to take off into the night sky, as could be seen in the live stream. A total of 40 tons of liquid oxygen and propane fueled the nine first stage engines.
Unlike the first flight, which ended at the end of March last year after half a minute due to a breakdown with a valve, the rocket continued to climb into space on Saturday evening. After the separation of the upper stage with the payload was successful, the Spectrum passed the border of space with the Kármán line at an altitude of 100 kilometers and reached Earth orbit after around seven minutes. This is the prerequisite for flights around the earth. It was initially unclear whether the satellites were successfully placed into orbit. After ten minutes, the video transmission to the ground was lost after the missile had exceeded the maximum range of the connection. During the night, Isar Aerospace confirmed that this had also worked. “Today Isar Aerospace opened up space from continental Europe,” said founder Daniel Metzler in a statement. “Launch continues to be the biggest bottleneck in the global space industry, starting today a real alternative is available to private and public customers.” Now the company wants to “ramp up production, process orders and meet growing global demand.”
According to Metzler's earlier information, the next flight will be purely commercial. During the current test flight, five small satellites and a scientific experiment from universities and companies were on board the rocket, which has a total payload capacity of one ton. Customers are aware of the risk, said Metzler. They had won the flight in a competition run by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which supported Isar Aerospace in this way together with the European Space Agency Esa.
The founders hadn't had much luck with the second test flight of their small rocket. The launch failed at the end of January because of a defective valve, in March because of a fishing boat in the exclusion zone and at the beginning of April because of a leak in a pressure vessel. In mid-June, the team had to postpone the start again due to a leaky helium tank.
Company boss Metzler had nevertheless been optimistic in advance: "We already have the feeling from the second flight that we can get relatively far. In the end, more than 100,000 parts, different systems and software have to work together." If not, then it will work next time. After all, it is “significantly cheaper and faster for us to simply fly a rocket, learn from the results and incorporate them into the next launch vehicle,” said Metzler. “We just have to try new things that can make us faster, talk less, analyze less, we have to be brave.” The only question is: "Do we need two, three, four, five attempts? We'll find out," said Metzler in an SZ interview a week ago.
With its current success, Isar Aerospace was even faster than its competition from Space-X, which took four flights to reach orbit with the Falcon 1 18 years ago. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) congratulated the company: “This is the beginning of a new era,” he said. “Germany can do space travel,” said Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU). The fact that a German launch vehicle has reached Earth orbit for the first time is a milestone that demonstrates Germany's ability to innovate and its technical knowledge. “It shows that German engineering is opening up new paths in space not only nationally but also internationally – here in close collaboration with our Norwegian partners.” She praised the interaction between research and industrial policy as well as cross-border cooperation.
The rockets for flights three to seven are in production at Isar Aerospace, and the start-up is “fully booked” until 2028, Metzler said recently. The company wanted to launch several more times this year; six to eight launches are planned for 2027. Isar Aerospace is currently moving to a new factory east of Munich. At 40,000 square meters, it is eight times larger than the previous one in Ottobrunn. Isar Aerospace wants to create space there to build 40 rockets a year. The company is well financed and is the first German space unicorn, so it is valued at more than one billion euros. The start-up has just raised another 270 million euros. This is intended to expand series production of the Spectrum. New investors include Island Green Capital (USA) and Molten Ventures (UK). In addition to the launch site in Norway, another launch site is planned to be set up in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Isar Aerospace also recently received around 200 million euros from Esa for rocket development and launch orders.
More than 60 percent of inquiries come from the defense sector
According to Metzler, more than 60 percent of inquiries from potential customers now come from the defense sector. This is also a consequence of the uncertain world situation and the announcement by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius that he will invest 35 billion euros in space security by the end of the decade. The declared goal is to make Germany and Europe more independent in space travel. The current launch is “a clear sign of the emerging commercial space transport in Europe,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher in advance. Isar Aerospace contributes to advancing “a resilient and autonomous Europe in space”.
So far only the ESA rockets Ariane and Vega have flown. However, you can take larger satellites with you and have a payload capacity of up to 20 or three tons, Spectrum one ton. Metzler also points out that Andøya now has the first continental starting place. This is also strategically important because the rockets can reach so-called polar orbits from there - this is important for earth observation.
There are several companies in Europe that want to make money with such small rockets – known as microlaunchers. However, the British start-up Orbex recently had to file for bankruptcy. In Germany, the OHB subsidiary Rocket Factory Augsburg also wants to launch its microlauncher RFA One for the first time in a few months. From Saxavord in the Shetland Islands. The third German rocket manufacturer Hyimpulse had already reached an altitude of around 50 to 60 kilometers from Australia in May 2024 with its smaller sounding rocket SR75. Another start of the SR75 is planned for the second half of the year, this time also from Saxavord. The actual microlauncher SL1 is expected to take off for the first time next year.
