(Bloomberg) — A rocket made by German startup Isar Aerospace failed to reach orbit on its first test flight, veering seconds after liftoff before crashing into the icy surrounds of its launch base in Norway on Sunday.
Andoya Space, which developed the launchpad, said crisis management has been activated following the incident, in a statement on its website.
“We are collaborating with the emergency services, and Isar Aerospace to gain an overview of the situation,” it said.
A successful launch, a key step in developing Europe’s first spaceport for orbital missions, would have made Isar the first company to reach orbit from a European spaceport.
European countries are seeking to reduce their dependence on the US for launch systems that send satellites into orbit. Fraying defense ties with Washington and a backlog at Elon Musk’s SpaceX have added to Europe’s sense of urgency to develop its own capacity.
“Sovereignty is a big topic because, in this case, people across the globe realize that you can’t fully rely on partner nations anymore,” Isar Chief Executive Officer Daniel Metzler said in an interview before the launch. “We wanted to have a launch site, ideally in continental Europe to actually be able to serve the European market.”
The first launch attempt, on March 24, was scrubbed due to wind. Isar later moved its targeted launch window again due to weather restrictions.
Munich-based Isar is among a handful of commercial European rocket startups attempting to replicate SpaceX’s success.
Germany’s Rocket Factory Augsburg AG has received all the necessary licensing to take off this year from SaxaVord, a spaceport in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. That would be the first vertical orbital rocket launch attempt in the UK since Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit was shut down in 2023 after a launch from Spaceport Cornwall in England failed to reach space.
Another German company, HyImpulse Technologies, conducted a suborbital launch from an Australian spaceport last May.
Metzler managed expectations before the launch, which did not carry a payload. “I don’t expect that we’ll get to orbit,” he said. “The goal is to not blow up the pad and that also means flying for roughly 30 seconds.”
Isar’s rockets have about a 1,000 kilogram (2,200 pound) payload and are designed to fly small and medium satellites into low-earth orbit. Most earth observation satellites, which can be used for spying, environmental monitoring and mapping, can use orbits accessible from the Norway launch site, according to Metzler.
Isar has raised more than €400 million ($433 million) in total funding since it was founded in 2018, including a €220 million Series C round announced in June that was backed by the NATO Innovation Fund. The company is building a factory near Munich that will be able to produce 40 of its Spectrum rockets a year.
Capacity on its rockets is sold out until the beginning of 2027, with more than ten missions planned by then, Metzler said.
Andoya has been hosting suborbital launches since it opened in 1962, with more than 300 missions for NASA alone. Isar is the first of several partners Andoya Space is targeting for orbital missions from the spaceport.
–With assistance from Valentine Baldassari.
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