An effort by Isar Aerospace to become the first European commercial space company to launch an orbital rocket from continental Europe failed in spectacular fashion when the vehicle lost control and exploded soon after liftoff on Sunday.
The inaugural launch of the two-stage Spectrum rocket took place at the Andøya Spaceport in Norway at 12:30 p.m. local time.
The 28-meter-tall rocket made a clean departure from the launchpad and appeared to be doing well as it roared skyward. But about 18 seconds into its flight, the vehicle lost control before falling back to Earth and exploding in the sea.
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In a widely reported statement, Isar Aerospace said that despite the abrupt end to the mission, it had met its goals, adding: “After ignition of its first stage, Spectrum successfully lifted off … for its first test flight lasting approximately 30 seconds. This allowed the company to gather a substantial amount of flight data and experience to apply on future missions.”
Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), also commented, saying: “Success to get off the pad, and lots of data already obtained. I am sure Isar Aerospace will learn a lot.”
Aschbacher added: “Rocket launch is hard. Never give up, move forward with even more energy!”
Founded in 2018, Germany-based Isar Aerospace designed and manufactured the rocket entirely in-house, including its high-pressure turbopump-fed Aquila engines. The vehicle uses liquid oxygen and propane as propellants, offering high performance with minimal environmental impact.
No payloads were aboard the rocket on Sunday’s maiden flight, but it’s designed to carry payloads of up to 1,000 kilograms to low-Earth orbit.
If it can perfect its Spectrum rocket, Isar Aerospace is planning to carve out a niche in the small-to-medium payload launch market, similar to the approach of the successful New Zealand startup Rocket Lab, which itself is growing fast to become a SpaceX competitor in the small-satellite launch sector.
Following Sunday’s mission, Daniel Metzler, Isar Aerospace’s CEO and co-founder, said: “As a company with European roots, we are proud to have shown that Europe has an enduring capacity for bold thinking and grand achievements. We will be able to serve customers from around the world to bring their satellites into space and to help Europe solve a major blind spot in its security architecture: access to space.”