PROTECT YOUR DNA WITH QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY
Orgo-Life the new way to the future Advertising by AdpathwayOpen-access content Tanya Weaver —
Mon 24 Mar 2025
Isar Aerospace to launch its first test flight mission, ‘Going Full Spectrum’, from Andøya Spaceport in Norway.
The European space company, which is headquartered in Munich, is making final preparations to launch its orbital launch vehicle Spectrum.
The 28-metre Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed for small and medium-sized satellites. Andøya is the first operational spaceport in continental Europe.
The launch window opens from 12.30 to 15.30 CET today (24 March), subject to weather, safety and range infrastructure.
The first test flight is the culmination of a seven-year journey of developing the launch vehicle in-house. It will mark the first integrated test of all systems and tens of thousands of components.
While Isar Aerospace says that the possibility of this vehicle reaching orbit on this first test flight is slim, the flight will enable the firm to collect as much data and experience as possible. No customer payloads are on board this flight.
“Whatever the outcome, Isar Aerospace’s upcoming Spectrum launch will be historic: the first commercial orbital launch from mainland Europe,” said Josef Aschbacher, director-general of the European Space Agency (ESA).
In mid-February 2025, Isar Aerospace completed the pre-flight stage testing operations of Spectrum with a 30-second integrated nine-engine static fire test of stage 1. This achievement can be viewed in the video below.
While Isar Aerospace is a separate entity to the ESA, the agency has provided the start-up with support and co-funding.
Isar Aerospace was founded in 2018 with the aim of developing, building and operating launch vehicles for transporting small and medium-sized satellites as well as satellite constellations into Earth’s orbit.
It has built the Spectrum launch vehicle from scratch, with help from more than €400m in total funding from international investors.
Using a vertically integrated approach and a highly automated serial production, the firm says this has enabled it to manufacture launch vehicles at a fraction of the cost they are currently produced in Europe.
Daniel Metzler, CEO and co-founder of Isar Aerospace, said: “We are approaching the most important moment of our journey so far, and I would like to thank all our team, partners, customers and investors who have been accompanying and trusting us.
“In today’s geopolitical climate, our first test flight is about much more than a rocket launch: space is one of the most critical platforms for our security, resilience and technological advancement.”
Earlier this year, aerospace company Orbex, headquartered in Forres in northern Scotland, announced it plans to launch the first UK-made orbital rocket from SaxaVord in Scotland later this year.
You may also be interested in...
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will finally make the return trip from the International Space Station (ISS) after their 10-day trip unexpectedly turned into a nine-month residency.
Open-access content
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has suffered its second rocket failure this year after one of its spacecraft exploded just minutes after taking off from a Texas launchpad.
Open-access content
SpaceX has identified why its Starship super heavy rocket exploded during a test flight last month.
Open-access content
Researchers have broken a distance record in quantum communication by transmitting ultra-secure quantum-encrypted images nearly 13,000km from China to South Africa.
Open-access content
Great British Energy has announced that schools and hospitals across the UK are to benefit from £180m of rooftop solar investment.
Open-access content
The US Department of Defense has awarded Northrop Grumman a $24.9m contract for a new autonomous undersea sensing research and development programme.
Open-access content
Local authorities report that the backlog of repairs to bring the road network up to ‘ideal’ conditions has reached almost £17bn.
Open-access content
Europe’s largest completed green hydrogen project has started operations at BASF’s Ludwigshafen site in south-west Germany.
Open-access content
More from Aerospace IT
Dennis Muilenburg, chairman and chief executive of Boeing, has said the US plane maker made a mistake in implementing a faulty cockpit warning system on its 737 Max passenger plane, predicting it would take time to rebuild the confidence of customers...
Open-access content
A digital air traffic control (ATC) centre has opened at Cranfield Airport in Bedfordshire for the first time.
Open-access content
A laser-based system that allows aircraft and drones to efficiently transmit data from the air to the ground could be used in disaster situations to bolster rescue efforts.
Open-access content
The computing and peripherals technology industry took the lead in innovation across the globe for the fifth year running, a new analysis of global patents has revealed.
Open-access content
More from Europe
esearchers at the University of Cambridge have calculated that sticking to national renewable energy targets will reduce the intensity of price spikes.
Open-access content
Europe should ban the use of geoengineering methods to tackle climate change over concerns that the untested methods could lead to unintended consequences, the EU’s scientific advisers have said.
Open-access content
EU countries on Friday voted in favour of the European Commission’s proposal to impose up to 45% on China-made electric vehicles for five years.
Open-access content
Human rights, democracy and the rule of law will be further protected from potential threats posed by AI under a new international agreement signed by the countries that negotiated it, including European Union members, the US and the UK.
Open-access content
More from Space
Elon Musk has recommended that the International Space Station be deorbited earlier than currently planned after getting into a spat with a Danish astronaut.
Open-access content
The YR4 asteroid, which has been dubbed the “city killer”, now has a 3.1% chance of hitting the Earth in 2032 making it the most threatening space body recorded in modern times.
Open-access content
A ground-based neutron monitor has been installed at a Met Office site in Cornwall to help understand and mitigate the impacts of space weather.
Open-access content
Mobile network Vodafone says it has made the world’s first space-based video call using a normal 5G-equipped smartphone and coverage from commercial satellites.
Open-access content
More from Space Research
The YR4 asteroid, which has been dubbed the “city killer”, now has a 3.1% chance of hitting the Earth in 2032 making it the most threatening space body recorded in modern times.
Open-access content
The building blocks of DNA and RNA, essential precursors to life, have been discovered in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by Nasa’s Osiris-REx mission.
Open-access content
Nasa will delay work on its Mars Sample Return (MSR) plan while it assesses two possible approaches on how to successfully fulfil the tricky mission.
Open-access content
Stratospheric balloons are cheaper and easier to build than rockets and spaceplanes. They can offer hours of magnificent views of the Earth from within a comfy space capsule. But something has been holding their developers back.
Open-access content
More from News
Tesla has issued a notice to recall 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US after admitting to using the incorrect glue during assembly.
Open-access content
Resarchers have detected earthquakes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time using a subsea telecommunications cable.
Open-access content
O2’s decision to switch off its legacy 3G network next month will create £13.7m worth of e-waste, researchers have said.
Open-access content
Remote-controlled robot dogs could help decommission the defunct Sellafield nuclear plant after successful trials.
Open-access content
More from Tanya Weaver
Chinese EV maker BYD says its new platform has charging speeds of 1,000kW, twice the power of Tesla’s superchargers.
Open-access content
China-based autonomous driving start-up WeRide and French car maker Renault Group have teamed up to trial an experimental autonomous bus in Barcelona.
Open-access content
An Australian man in his mid-40s with severe heart failure has survived 105 days with an artificial heart made of titanium.
Open-access content
On its path to achieving a net zero fleet by 2030, British Gas has started a two-month trial of a hydrogen-powered van.
Open-access content
English (US) · 
French (CA) ·