Abgehoben: Deutsche Isar-Aerospace-Rakete erfolgreich ins All gestartet

The Spectrum rocket, manufactured by Isar Aerospace in Germany, successfully launched into space for its second test flight on December 22nd at 10:12 PM from the Norwegian Andøya Space Center. The live stream captured the rocket's ascent, but the video feed ended after ten minutes once it exceeded the maximum range of the connection.

The first attempt in March 2025 only lasted 30 seconds before the rocket crashed. Despite multiple delays and postponements, the company celebrated a significant success. The rocket reached about 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the Karman Line, marking the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, almost four minutes after launch.

The Spectrum carried five scientific satellites from various universities and a scientific experiment as its payload. Whether the satellites were successfully placed into orbit was not immediately clear. The rocket was originally scheduled to launch in January, but the first date was postponed due to a faulty valve, and the second attempt in March was delayed by a Norwegian fisherman who didn't leave the safety zone in Norwegian waters promptly.

April's launch was aborted due to a leaking pressure vessel, and another issue arose in June. Isar Aerospace plans to conduct further launches this year, and the third Spectrum rocket's construction is already advanced. The company's success is strategic for Europe. The Federal Government, EU, and other European states have a strategic interest in the company's success, employing around 400 people.

Isar Aerospace has raised over half a billion euros in investments from various sources. The company secured a 200 million euro contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) under an ESA program aimed at accelerating the development of European launch vehicles. Currently, Europe relies heavily on SpaceX for launching satellites, which is unpopular due to technical specifications that must be disclosed to the US.

Isar Aerospace has already booked contracts worth over 200 million euros with ESA, valued at around 400 million dollars for 2028, despite the rocket not being ready for series production. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited the Andøya site together with Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre on March 13th. The Ariane 6, larger than the Spectrum, will also not be able to reach higher altitudes once it reaches series production.

This task will be taken over by the French-German ArianeGroup, which plans to launch seven to eight Ariane 6 rockets this year, despite only four Ariane launches so far this year. Unlike the Spectrum, Ariane can carry heavier payloads to geostationary orbits nearly 36,000 kilometers above the Earth.