30 In March, the Isar Aerospace company carried out the first launch of the Spectrum rocket, which ended in failure - the rocket lost control over orientation a few seconds after launch and fell to Earth.
Mission progress
The launch took place Fr. 10:30 UTC from Andøya Spaceport in Northern Norway. Previously, it was postponed due to adverse weather conditions.
The ascent took place in a clear sky, but about 25 seconds after launch, the rocket began to lose stability. In a few seconds, she completely overturned and began to fall. Video recordings of the Norwegian publication VG recorded the moment the rocket fell near the launch site, followed by an explosion. The mission was of a test nature and did not contain a payload. The main goal is to check all components and systems of the missile.
Technical features of the Spectrum missile
Spectrum is a two-stage rocket, designed for output to 1 000 kg on low Earth orbit (LEO) and 700 kg into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The first stage is equipped with nine Aquila engines, operating on liquid oxygen and propane, and the second - by one Aquila vacuum engine.
Financing and competition in Europe
Isar Aerospace has already attracted over 400 million euros, in particular 65 million euros in June 2024 year. The company is actively working on the production of the second and third Spectrum missiles.
Isar Aerospace is one of several European companies, which develop small launch vehicles, but so far none of them have reached orbit.
Against this background, the European Space Agency (THIS) recently announced a competition to support new European launch vehicles. The selection of companies will take place in the summer 2025 year, and the final funding will be approved at the ESA ministerial conference in November.
Despite the failure, the launch provided valuable data for future missions. ESA expressed its support for the Isar Aerospace team, emphasizing, that every failure is a step towards future success.
Source: https://spacenews.com/isar-aerospaces-first-spectrum-launch-fails/