The first orbital rocket launched from the European continent crashed seconds after the explosion on Sunday, a closely watched test of building a new aerospace economy on the African continent.
The spectrum rocket developed by German startup Isar Aerospace starts smoking from its side, then hits Earth after launching from Andoya Spaceport in Norway in a live video on YouTube.
Isar Aerospace said it did not expect to reach orbit with the launch, and he said the two-stage rocket fell into the sea, adding that “the launch pad seemed complete”.
Andoya Space, a Norwegian public company that operates the spaceport, said that the “crisis response” measures have been activated after the “event”.
Regional police said there was no injury or damage outside the rocket itself, reportedly.
Orbital rockets aim to put payloads such as satellites into Earth’s orbit.
– “Great Success” –
Before launch, Isar Aerospace was repeatedly postponed due to weather conditions, and Isar Aerospace downplayed expectations, saying the goal was to not reach orbit on the first attempt.
“Our first test flight met all our expectations and was a huge success. We made 30 seconds of flights and could even verify our flight termination system,” said Daniel Metzler, co-founder and CEO of the company.
The company said it has developed two other spectrum rockets.
The 28-meter (92-foot) two-meter diameter rocket has a load capacity of one ton, but was offloaded for testing flights.
The Spectrum’s explosion was the first of the orbital launchers on the continent, excluding Russia, which was originally funded by the private sector only.
“Today is a big day for space travel in Germany and Europe,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck.
“Isar Aerospace can and will make a decisive contribution to ensuring Europe’s independence into space.”
In 2023, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson’s virgin track underwent its first European orbit launch.
It attempted to launch the rocket from southwestern England into orbit using a Boeing 747, but failed and the company folded.
– “New Space” –
Since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022, Europe has been unable to access Russian space stations or launchers, which has sent diplomatic relations on the downward spiral.
The European space industry has also seen the development of the Ariane 6 rocket and the suspension of Vega-C satellite launchers after the accident.
It was not until March 6 that Europe was able to regain independence after being unable to enter space on its own after a few months.
Although the United States already has the blue origin created by SpaceX and Jeff Bezos of Elon Musk, commercial space activities (called “New Space”) are still in their infancy in Europe.
ISAR Aerospace was founded in Munich in 2018.
Europe is also home to Germany’s Hyimpulse and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), French groups Latitude and Maiaspace, and Spain’s PLD Space, all of which compete to be key players in the industry.
Isar Aerospace commentator said in the YouTube Live stream that Sunday’s release generated “a large amount of data that the team can now evaluate and learn.”
With the development of new rockets, many spaceport projects have emerged in Europe, from the Portuguese Azores to the British Shetlands, Norway’s Andoya and Esrange are in neighboring Sweden, with many competing for the first launchers.
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