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.
This launch comes just ten months after the rocket’s first test flight, that flew for 30 seconds, clearing the launch pad and proved Spectrum can achieve one of the hardest parts of space transportation: liftoff.
First passengers
Unlike the test flight in 2025, for this second Spectrum launch Isar Aerospace has selected six passengers, five commercial and educational cubesats and an experiment that aims to prove new technologies in orbit around Earth and provide educational experiences for students in Europe.
"With the second Spectrum launcher on the launchpad in Norway, we are witnessing a clear signal of Europe’s burgeoning commercial space transportation services,” says ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher, “Isar Aerospace is poised to rise to a great challenge, one that will be instrumental in advancing a resilient and autonomous Europe in space.”