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Isar Aerospace successfully launches Spectrum, becoming Europe's first commercial space company to place satellites in orbit

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket from Andøya, Norway, and placed five university-built scientific satellites and an experiment into orbit.
  • The mission made Isar Aerospace the first European commercial space company to achieve a successful satellite launch, according to the company.
  • Germany's government and the European Space Agency have backed the company as Europe seeks more independent launch capacity.

Isar Aerospace has opened a new chapter for Europe's commercial space industry. The German company's Spectrum rocket lifted off from the Andøya spaceport in Norway and successfully reached Earth orbit, marking the first flight of this kind from continental Europe.

Isar Aerospace became Europe's first commercial space company to successfully put satellites into orbit, on only its second flight

· Isar AerospaceThe company described the significance of the Spectrum mission in a statement.

The 28-meter rocket carried five scientific satellites from several universities and one scientific experiment. The “Onward and Upward” mission launched at 10:12 p.m. local time, or 8:12 p.m. GMT, on Saturday from Isar Aerospace's own launch complex at Andøya.

“Isar Aerospace became Europe's first commercial space company to successfully put satellites into orbit, on only its second flight,” the company said. Chief Executive and co-founder Daniel Metzler said the launch “opened access to space from continental Europe” and showed that “Europe now has sovereign access to space.”

opened access to space from continental Europe

· Daniel MetzlerIsar Aerospace's chief executive and co-founder described the launch's importance for Europe.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz congratulated the company, which is based near Munich. “For the first time, a flight of this kind has been completed from the European continent to Earth orbit. This is the beginning of a new era,” he said.

Europe now has sovereign access to space

· Daniel MetzlerMetzler said the launch gave Europe independent access to space.

In August, Isar Aerospace signed a contract with the European Space Agency under the European Launcher Challenge, securing about 200 million euros in financing commitments. The program aims to accelerate the development of next-generation launch vehicles, expand testing and launch infrastructure, and support more frequent launches and future missions. The company has also signed a launch-services agreement with Astroscale Japan for the ADRAS-J2 active space-debris-removal mission aboard Spectrum.

For the first time, a flight of this kind has been completed from the European continent to Earth orbit. This is the beginning of a new era

· Friedrich MerzThe German chancellor congratulated Isar Aerospace after the successful launch.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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