The European market’s first attempt at playing catch-up with the satellite launch industry ended in a gigantic explosion off the Norwegian coast, where a German-made rocket crashed and burned.
German startup Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket from the Andøya spaceport on Sunday at 6:30 a.m. ET for its first test flight. The rocket successfully lifted off from its launchpad and spent around 30 seconds in the air before it started falling back down toward the Arctic Ocean, creating a massive fireball over the water.
Launch, learn, repeat.#fromisartospace #goingfullspectrum pic.twitter.com/nyqKKBTIsV
— Isar Aerospace (@isaraerospace) March 30, 2025
The company later revealed that the flight was terminated shortly after liftoff, and the launch vehicle fell into the sea in a controlled manner. “Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success,”Daniel Metzler, CEO and co-founder of Isar Aerospace, said in an emailed statement. “We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System. We demonstrated that we can not only design and build but also launch rockets.”
With the launch, Isar became the first European space company to launch an orbital rocket from continental Europe. Its Spectrum rocket is designed to carry small and medium-sized satellites to orbit, with Germany being one of several European nations hoping to get in on the growing global industry of launching satellites. The industry is currently dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX with its workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9, launching more than 400 times over the past 15 years. French company Arianespace is also in the business of launching satellites, though it uses a spaceport in French Guiana, South America.
European countries have been struggling to keep up with the commercial space industry, with few options for launch vehicles. After cutting ties with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine and subsequently losing access to Soyuz rockets, the European market has been anxiously waiting for the debut of Arianespace’s Ariane 6 as Europe’s next-generation rocket. Ariane 6 suffered numerous delays before finally launching on its inaugural flight in June 2024. It still wasn’t perfect, however, as the rocket’s second stage failed to raise its altitude and deploy two of its payloads. The rocket redeemed itself earlier this year, deploying a high-resolution reconnaissance satellite to orbit in March.
Evidently, the rocket business is hard. Isar Aerospace, however, has not been derailed by its less-than-ideal launch. The company is already planning the Spectrum rocket’s second and third launch, while analyzing the data gathered during the first flight to determine the root cause behind the fatal anomaly.
“Today, we laid the foundation to cater to the rising global demand for flexible satellite launch services. Now it’s time to analyze all data, learn, iterate and be back on the launch pad as soon as possible,” Metzler said.
