German company Isar Aerospace has raised $165 million in order to ramp up the development of its Spectrum rocket, which is scheduled for its debut launch later this year. For Europeans needing access to space, the rocket's arrival will come not a moment too soon.
[...] Isar Aerospace has raised a total of $330 million so far, with $75 million raised during its previous round of funding in July 2021. The funds will go towards the development of Isar's Spectrum rocket, a two-stage launch vehicle designed to carry small and medium sized satellites to orbit. According to ISAR, Spectrum should be capable of carrying 2,205 pounds (1,000 kilograms) to low Earth orbit (LEO). By comparison, SpaceX's medium-lift Falcon 9 can hoist 50,265 pounds (22,800 kg) to LEO.
Spectrum's inaugural launch is planned for the second half of 2023. Isar Aerospace is currently running tests on the rocket's Aquila engine, which was developed and manufactured in-house. The company is also finalizing its infrastructure at the launch site in Andøya, Norway, which will host Spectrum's debut liftoff.
[...] Europe is desperately in need of its own launch vehicles, whether for small or medium lift, to provide local access to space. Spectrum won't be the most powerful rocket when it debuts, but it'll fill a troublesome gap, especially until Vega-C and Ariane 6 come through.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday March 31, @09:35PM (4 children)
That is very far from the equator.
Are they really that desperate to avoid choosing Peenemünde?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 31, @09:54PM
There are orbits that don't benefit from launching at the equator.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 31, @10:27PM
They can always launch from there or near the equator later. Northern Europe is more competitive for polar orbits.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday April 01, @05:38AM (1 child)
It's kind of odd tho that they decide to build a new launch site on a somewhat, I guess, remote island up in the arctic. It's almost like if they are some kind of James Bond villains. After all if they just wanted an arctic launch site there is already the Esrange space center that isn't to far south, eyeballing it to about 200km, as it's way up inside the arctic circle in northern Sweden. But I'm sure there are reasons.
Well Germans and Rockets. I would want to avoid Peenemunde to. The associations are always going to be a PR nightmare, even if something doesn't go horribly wrong. The taint of history is just to strong. That said for Germans then to build a space launch facility in Norway is probably not that much better from the historical perspective. After all DONT MENTION THE WAR!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 01, @11:56AM
My bet is that nobody will be allowed to launch from Peenemunde until they have a demonstrated history of very reliable launch and launch abort systems - which this company doesn't have!
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Friday March 31, @10:02PM
Should have named it the "V2"