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The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Spectrum first flight
European commercial rocket Spectrum, developed and operated by Isar Aerospace, took flight from Andøya Spaceport in Norway on 30 March 2025 and flew for 30 seconds, clearing the launch pad and proving the launch vehicle could achieve one of the hardest parts of space transportation: liftoff.
Isar Aerospace’s two-stage launch vehicle Spectrum is 28 m tall, 2 m in diameter and, with its ten engines, it is targeting to launch payloads of up to 1000 kg to low Earth orbit.
The flight allows Isar Aerospace engineers to analyse all the data they need to tweak their Spectrum launcher for a next flight. “Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success”, said Isar Aerospace CEO Daniel Metzler, “We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our flight termination System.”
Isar Aerospace is a German-based company, building their Spectrum launch vehicle in state-of-the-art production facilities relying on in-house manufacturing.
Initially supported by ESA’s Business Incubation Centre, the company is supported by three rounds of co-funding from ESA so far, as part of the Boost! programme that helps commercial initiatives offering transportation services to space, in space, and returning from space. ESA's support will follow steps preparing the second test flight of the Spectrum rocket and scaling-up of production facilities at the company’s new headquarters in Vaterstetten, Germany.
