WASHINGTON — The first launch of Isar Aerospace’ Spectrum rocket failed March 30 when the vehicle lost attitude control seconds after liftoff and plummeted back to Earth.
The Spectrum rocket lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway at 6:30 a.m. Eastern. Weather conditions had postponed the launch by more than a week. The company had a launch period of March 20 through March 31 set by a license the company received from Norwegian regulators March 17.
The vehicle soared into clear skies, but appeared to lose attitude control about 25 seconds after liftoff, shortly after the announcer for the company’s launch webcast said the vehicle would make a pitchover maneuver, designed to allow the rocket to gain horizontal speed as well as altitude.
Within five seconds, the vehicle completely pitched over and started descending. While the webcast cut away from the rocket, an explosion could be heard on the broadcast about 10 seconds later. Video from VG, a Norwegian publication, showed the rocket hitting the ground near the pad and exploding.
The launch, called “Going Full Spectrum” by the company, was a test flight with no payloads on board. “Our goal is to test each and every component and system of the launch vehicle,” said Alexandre Dalloneau, vice president of mission and launch operations at Isar Aerospace, in a pre-launch statement.
“No matter how far we come with this test flight, Mission ‘Going Full Spectrum’ will be a reason for our entire team to be very proud, a success for Isar Aerospace and our close partner Andøya Spaceport, and a huge step forward for European access to space,” he added.
“WHAT A FLIGHT!” posted Daniel Metzler, chief executive of Isar Aerospace, about an hour after the launch. “On our first flight today we got to a clean liftoff, 30sec of flight, and didn’t blow up the pad in the meantime.”
Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed to place up to 1,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit and 700 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit. The first stage uses nine of the company’s Aquila engines, powered by liquid oxygen and liquid propane, while the second stage uses a single vacuum-optimized Aquila engine.
Isar Aerospace has raised more than 400 million euros ($430 million) to date, including more than 65 million euros in an extension of an earlier Series C round in June 2024. Company executives noted before the launch that the second and third Spectrum rockets are in production.
Munich-based Isar is one of several European companies developing small launch vehicles, none of which has made it to orbit. Another German company, Rocket Factory Augsburg, was preparing for a first launch of its RFA ONE rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands when the vehicle’s first stage was destroyed in a static-fire test in August 2024.
The failure of the first Spectrum launch comes just after the European Space Agency kicked off a competition to support new European vehicles. ESA issued a call for proposals March 24 for the European Launcher Challenge, seeking proposals from European companies offering launch services or to upgrade launch vehicles. ESA will select a “bouquet” of eligible companies this summer and seek funding from them from ESA’s member states at its ministerial conference in November.
“Success to get off the pad, and lots of data already obtained. I am sure @isaraerospace will learn a lot,” Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA, posted on social media just after the Spectrum launch failure. “Rocket launch is hard. Never give up, move forward with even more energy !”