Isar Aerospace Puts Spectrum Rocket Into Orbit From Andøya Spaceport, Arctic Norway

Spectrum reaches orbit

German startup Isar Aerospace put its Spectrum rocket into orbit from Andøya Spaceport in Arctic Norway on Saturday, Sept. 5, reaching orbit after lifting off at 10:12pm (20:12 GMT) and carrying five small satellites plus an in-flight technology experiment.

Reuters said the uncrewed Spectrum became "the first commercial rocket to reach orbit from continental Europe," and Al Jazeera reported the company said "spacecraft separation was completed successfully" after satellite deployment.

Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum was on its second flight after a first test in March 2022 that plunged into the sea and exploded 30 seconds after takeoff, and Al Jazeera said the second launch was intended as "both the vehicle's qualification mission and its first flight carrying payload."

The mission sequence described by Al Jazeera included the rocket reaching an altitude of 100km (62 miles) above Earth’s surface in less than four minutes, and Reuters said Isar would rapidly expand satellite deployments after the orbital launch.

Isar Aerospace chief engineer Nikolaos Perakis said during the launch webcast, "This is right now making history — making history for Spectrum, making history for Isar, making history for Europe," as the rocket settled into an elliptical path around Earth.

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Voices hail milestone

Isar co-founder and CEO Daniel Metzler told reporters, "Launch capability is right now the biggest bottleneck in the entire industry," as Reuters reported the company said it would rapidly expand satellite deployments after the first orbital launch. In a statement, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the launch "the beginning of a new era," and Reuters said Merz visited Isar's launch site in March to underscore Europe’s efforts to establish greater autonomy. Al Jazeera quoted the EU defence and space commissioner Andrius Kubilius on X saying, "Europe’s independent access to space just got a major boost," while Reuters reported the same line as Kubilius wrote on social media platform X.

Norway’s minister of industry and commerce, Cecilie Myrseth, said, "The fact that we can now launch satellites from Andoeya strengthens Norwegian and European security in the turbulent times we live," according to Reuters. The Guardian framed the moment as a milestone for Europe’s efforts to secure independent access to space, saying Isar Aerospace launched its uncrewed Spectrum rocket from Arctic Norway and that the company planned to rapidly expand satellite deployments.

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Next steps and capacity

Reuters said Isar already has five more rockets in production and is focused on scaling up operations to meet rising demand, with a long-term goal of conducting around 40 launches a year. The company is also developing a second launch site in Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, and Reuters reported Isar said this could be ready for lift-offs in 2028. Al Jazeera said Europe is largely unable to launch satellites and has faced setbacks after cutting ties with Russia’s Soyuz rockets, while it noted most European satellites have been launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Reuters reported Isar secured about €200 million ($232 million) from the European Space Agency to help fund development of new rockets and expand its testing and launch infrastructure, and Euronews said the mission validated the first milestone of ESA’s European launcher Challenge. Euronews added that the Spectrum mission benefited from the ESA Boost! program and that the European Launcher Challenge requires suppliers to perform an orbital launch by 2027, placing Isar’s success into a broader schedule for European launch providers.

Reporting for this sectionReutersEuronews