In the competitive and highly specialized ecosystem of aerospace launch services, Isar Aerospace is positioning itself to challenge Europe’s traditional status quo. Having successfully completed static firings of both stages of its Spectrum launch vehicle, the rocket is nearing its first flight. Now the company appears poised to become the first entirely privately financed European venture to reach orbit from the continent’s mainland.
Engineers recently conducted a critical static-fire test in February at the Andøya Spaceport in Norway, igniting all nine Aquila engines on Spectrum’s first stage for 30 seconds. The test confirmed that its hardware and control systems function properly in real launch conditions. This follows an earlier static-fire test of Spectrum’s upper stage last year, both events leading Isar Aerospace to declare “full qualification” for the rocket.
“We are almost ready for the test flight. All we need is the license,” says Daniel Metzler, Isar Aerospace CEO & Co-Founder. “By enabling space access from mainland Europe, we provide a critical resource for ensuring sovereignty and resilience.”
The Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority, which oversees safety and environmental assessments, must grant final approval before the rocket can lift off. Once that regulatory hurdle is cleared, Isar plans to launch Spectrum from Andøya, located in the northernmost part of mainland Europe.
Spectrum is designed to carry up to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds)—about the mass of a small car—into low Earth orbit. Its engines run on a mix of liquid oxygen and propane, which Isar Aerospace says burns more cleanly and delivers better performance than older kerosene-based fuels. The company builds nearly all of its rocket components in-house, including the engines, an approach the company believes shortens design cycles and streamlines production.
If the inaugural flight succeeds, Spectrum’s arrival would come when the European launch market is in flux. Delays in the introduction of the larger Ariane 6 rocket and reliability problems with the smaller Vega have prompted many European satellite operators to seek launch services abroad, especially with SpaceX in the United States. A home-grown launcher like Spectrum could offer flexibility and help reduce reliance on foreign providers, particularly for the fast-growing category of small satellites.
So far, Isar has attracted more than 400 million euros in funding since it was founded in 2018, enabling the company to develop, test, and prepare its first flight-ready vehicles. While this initial mission will carry no customer payload, the company hopes that future launches will serve both public and private clients seeking smaller, dedicated launches into custom orbits.
Like many new rockets, Spectrum’s first flight will be part demonstration and part data-gathering exercise. Even a partial success would inform design improvements and guide the company’s investment in additional vehicles.
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Should everything go as planned, the countdown could begin later this year. For Europe’s burgeoning commercial space industry, the potential success of Spectrum represents not only a technological leap but also a broader sign that private ventures can successfully challenge the status quo and offer new routes to orbit, helping ensure more robust and independent access to space.
“The flight will be the first integrated test of tens of thousands of components,” says Josef Fleischmann, Isar Aerospace CTO & Co-Founder. “Regardless of how far we get, this first test flight will hopefully generate an enormous amount of data and experience which we can apply to future missions.”