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Rocket start-up Isar Aerospace has become the first company to attempt a vertical launch into orbit from western Europe, but its two-stage Spectrum launcher pitched over and crashed back to earth within seconds of lift-off.
Sunday’s launch from Andøya Space Center in Norway came after several aborted missions due to uncertain weather conditions in the snowbound spaceport north of the Arctic Circle.
The test flight is still a significant step for European ambitions to develop sovereign launch capabilities through the private sector amid tensions with the US over the war in Ukraine and relationship with Russia.
Daniel Metzler, co-founder and chief executive of Munich-based Isar, told the Financial Times ahead of the launch that the company had been inundated with inquiries from defence customers in recent months, and that pressure from US President Donald Trump had changed the dynamics of the market for launch services.
“Up until last year, 95 per cent of the missions we were talking about were commercial. Now it’s maybe 50 per cent because the amount of defence missions just skyrocketed,” he said.
“We are seeing more and more government missions coming up, because Trump is having his effect on European defence,” said Metzler. “It seems that Europe is waking up.”
Last June, Nato’s Innovation Fund joined several other new investors in a £220mn series C fundraising that valued Isar, founded by PhD students in 2018, at roughly $1bn. At the time, Metzler said military customers were not expected to account for more than 20-30 per cent of demand in the near future.
The mission, dubbed “Going Full Spectrum”, launched under clear skies at 12.30pm CET. But just 30 seconds into flight, the rocket appeared to pitch over, its engines flaming.
Although the rocket failed to reach orbit, Metzler hailed it as a success. “Our first test flight met all our expectations, he said. “We had a clean lift-off, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System.” Ahead of the launch, he had said reaching orbit had never been the main goal, noting that no start-up had successfully launched a rocket into orbit on its first flight.
“Even [a] 30-second flight would put us in the top one-third of global companies in terms of how far we get on our first try,” he said.
Isar is one of several European start-ups, including Rocket Factory Augsburg of Germany, Orbex and Skyrora in the UK, MaiaSpace of France and PLD of Spain that are attempting to tap into booming demand for satellite launches.
The European Space Agency last week fired the starting gun on its Launcher Challenge, which aims to promote the development of sovereign, private sector launch capabilities in Europe.
Isar’s Spectrum rocket, standing at 28 metres tall and manufactured using carbon composite and 3D printed parts, is designed for small to medium satellite launches, with a capacity of up to 1,000kg. The test flight was not carrying any satellites.
Metzler said the flight had been a success because “the goal on first flight is really to show that we can launch a rocket”.
“We’ve shown that we can design a rocket, we’ve shown we can build a rocket. We’ve shown that we can build a spaceport. Now it’s about showing that we can build and actually launch the rocket.”
Isar will now examine the data from the first flight before deciding when to schedule the next launch. It has certification to launch up to 15 times a year from Norway and it has signed to launch rockets from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana.
Isar is building a new manufacturing facility in Munich capable of producing up to 40 rockets a year. However, it would take several years to reach this cadence, Metzler said. The Isar chief said the company’s launches were fully booked through early 2027.
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