Sunday, the orbital launch vehicle of Spectrum by Isar Aerospace rises from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. Credit: Isar Aerospace, Simon Fischer, Wingmen Media
First of all he built a rocket on the market to remove from continental Europe has returned to Earth in a few seconds. But his manufacturer considers the mission a success.
The test flight, “Going Full Spectrum”, was the debut launch of the Norwegian company Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum, a two -stage orbital launch vehicle designed to compete with the work horse of Spacex Falcon 9 and the Ariane Razzi family used by the European Space Agency (ESA). The launch has been deleted several times due to an unfavorable climate before taking off on Sunday at 6:30 am.
Spectrum got up from the picturesque Spaceport of Norway Andøya and eliminated the launch pad. But after about 30 seconds, the vehicle activated its flight termination system, closing its engines and sending it the nose around the sea “in a controlled way,” said Isar.
On Sunday’s Isar released videos of the launch and splashdown which shows the rocket that falls and explodes in the water next to the pad, which according to the company is intact. The vehicle was attempting a shooting maneuver designed to help it obtain speed and altitude before the stadium separation.
Despite the sharing of a flight plan that depicts the separation of the stage and a flight phase of the upper phase, Daniel Metzler, CEO of Isar, said on Sunday during a press briefing that the company never expected that Spectrum reached the orbit. The mission did not transport a useful load and instead was the first integrated test of all vehicle systems, the declared goal of collecting as much data as possible. According to the company, he reached this.
“We have been able to collect a considerable amount of flight data to be applied in our future missions,” said Alexandre Dalloneau, vice -president of mission and launch operations for Isar. Dalloneau previously worked for Arianespace and supervised Vega and Ariane 5 by launching Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in the French Guyana, from which the company manages most of the ESA missions.
“Even if I would say that the end of the mission was spectacular, I would say … it was still a success,” said Dalloneau.
Josef Aschbacher, General Manager of ESA, has given a similar evaluation: “A trial flight is exactly this: a test to collect data, learn and improve. Everything that is aerospace Isar achieved today is remarkable and will have many data to analyze”.
Isar has collected about 435 million dollars in funding mainly from private investors but also through three Cofunding Esa rounds under his push! plan. To date, the initiative has assigned over $ 46 million to European commercial launch providers. Last week ESA also opened the European Launcher Challenge, which invites candidates to compete for private launch services contracts.
Aschbacher on Sunday said he “soon” to expect Spectrum to be returned to Andøya for his next mission. Isar said that launch vehicles for the second and third flights are already in production near his headquarters in Munich, where he aims at one day to build 40 rockets per year. But in the first place, he will have to analyze the flight data and complete what Metzler has called a “correct investigation” to determine what went wrong.
“Now it’s time to analyze all data, learn, go and return to the launch pad as soon as possible,” said Metzler in a note.
Although bombastic, the explosive conclusion of the inaugural journey of Spectrum is not unprecedented. Take, for example, Ariane 5, designed by a coalition in the sector and was the launcher of ESA work horses before being gradually eliminated for the Ariane 6 and Vega C. Di Avio self -destruct about 30 seconds in its debut mission and did not reach the orbit until five years later.
Also Spacex – whose Falcon 9 represented over half of all the orbital launching attempts of last year – fought soon. Falcon 1 test flight 1, a first version of the work horse rocket, failed in the same way after about 30 seconds. He reached the orbit on his fourth flight more than two years later.
“The test launch a new rocket is immensely complex and very often without success,” said Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut of the Canadian agency that flew into space three times, in a post on X. “Many to learn from @isaraerospace. I am happy that no one has been injured and the pad is not damaged.”
Spectrum lacks the second stadium of Falcon 9, which allowed Spacex to dominate the global market of the commercial launch. But it could help stimulate a new wave of European innovation, with competitors such as Orbex, Rocket Factory Augsburg, Moiaspace and Hyimpulse who develop all alternatives. Isar’s offer is designed to launch small satellites up to 2,200 low earth -orbit pounds.
“We have all the resources to create competitive technological leaders globally,” said Metzler in a note. “With our services, we will be able to serve customers from all over the world to bring their satellites into space and to help Europe resolve an important blind point in its security architecture: access to space.”
Spectrum’s second test flight should launch 19 small satellites for university and private companies based on an agreement with the German space agency of DLR. Isar also has a contract with the Norwegian Space Agency to launch its Arch Ocean Surveillance satellites from Andøya until 2028.
