The commercial Spectrum rocket, built by German aerospace startup Isar Aerospace, successfully launched from the Andoya Spaceport in Norway and spent 30 seconds in the air before losing control and crashing to the ground. The startup said the test was a success, as Spectrum was able to complete one of the most difficult stages of a launch — liftoff.
The commercial Spectrum rocket, built by German aerospace startup Isar Aerospace, successfully launched from the Andoya Spaceport in Norway and spent 30 seconds in the air before losing control and crashing to the ground. The startup said the test was a success, as Spectrum was able to complete one of the most difficult stages of a launch — liftoff.
Spectrum is a two-stage rocket approximately 28 meters tall, designed to launch payloads weighing up to 1,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, European Spaceflight reports.
It is powered by ten Aquila engines developed by Isar Aerospace, nine on the first stage and a vacuum-optimized version on the upper stage. The engines run on liquid oxygen and liquid propane. The first launches will take place from the Andøya Spaceport in Norway, but the startup has also gained access to a new commercial launch pad at the Guiana Space Center.
The Spectrum mission, which the company called «Going Full Spectrum», launched at 12:30 CET on March 30 from the Isar Aerospace launch pad at the Andoya Space Center. The launch was originally scheduled for March 24, but was delayed several times due to adverse weather conditions.
After a successful liftoff, the rocket’s vector control system began to overcorrect its course about 18 seconds into the flight. About 10 seconds later, all first-stage engines shut down, and the rocket began to fall. Isar Aerospace CEO Daniel Metzler confirmed that it «did not blow up the pad».
«Our first test flight exceeded all our expectations, achieving great success. We had a clean takeoff, 30 seconds of flight, and we were even able to test our flight termination system», — said Metzler.
Before the launch, Isar Aerospace CEO Daniel Metzler announced that the company was already working on the second and third Spectrum rockets, adding that it would «return to the launch pad quickly regardless of the outcome of the first flight test».
Another view of the final moments of Spectrum Flight 1.
— Andrew Parsonson (@AndrewParsonson) March 30, 2025
Credit: Andøya Spaceport and Montevideo Tromsø pic.twitter.com/ztZNPtnlEO
Isar Aerospace has received over €400 million in investment, and in June 2024 attracted another €65 million, including from the NATO Innovation Fund.
In May 2024, the company signed a contract with construction company VGP Group to build its new headquarters on a 40,000-square-meter site near Munich. Isar Aerospace says it will be «the world’s most advanced orbital launch vehicle manufacturing facility». Once completed, it will be able to produce up to 40 Spectrum rockets per year.
Recall that in January, Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time, which is capable of launching up to 45 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit and 13 tons into geostationary orbit.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX space company then launched its largest rocket, the Starship, which broke up minutes after launch, forcing airline planes over the Gulf of Mexico to change course to avoid falling debris.
