Isar Aerospace

Isar Aerospace is a Munich-based launch company founded in 2018 by three former students from the Technical University of Munich. Its Spectrum rocket is a two-stage vehicle standing 28 meters tall and two meters in diameter, designed to lift up to one tonne into low Earth orbit with ten in-house Aquila engines burning a propane and liquid oxygen mix. The first flight, conducted from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway on March 30, 2025, was the first orbital launch attempt from continental Europe by a privately funded company, and ended about thirty seconds after liftoff following a loss of attitude control. The team completed integrated stage tests by late 2025 and prepared a second flight, named "Onward and Upward," for early 2026. Most major components, including engines and structures, are manufactured at the company's plant in Ottobrunn. Isar has secured contracts with the Norwegian Space Agency, Airbus, and the European Space Agency, among others.