German rockets pave the way for Europe's satellite launch ambitions

Reuters reported that the German company Isar Aerospace successfully launched the Spectrum rocket into orbit from the Andøya Space Center in northern Norway at 10:12 p.m. on September 5 (3:12 a.m. on September 6, Hanoi time). The unmanned Spectrum rocket was the first commercial flight to enter orbit from mainland Europe. According to Cecilie Myrseth, Norwegian Minister of Industry and Trade, the event marks a breakthrough for Europe's launch industry, giving the continent better access to space.

The Spectrum two-stage rocket is 28 m high, 2 m in diameter and equipped with 10 engines, carrying 6 CubeSat satellites and an experiment to demonstrate new technology in orbit. After the rocket ignited the engine to escape the initial elliptical orbit, the upper stage deployed the payload as planned.

Space said this was Spectrum's second launch. During the first flight called "Going Full Spectrum" in March 2025, Spectrum encountered a problem and fell to Earth less than a minute after launch.

Isar Aerospace prepared for the second flight "Onward and Upward", initially scheduled to launch in January. However, problems with the pressure regulator forced the company to cancel and push the flight to March. Bad weather, leaks in the composite-clad pressure chamber and abnormalities in the vehicle's fluid system continued to ruin many subsequent launch attempts.

With the ability to carry about 1,000 kg of cargo into low Earth orbit, Isar Aerospace expects Spectrum to become the main launch vehicle for small to medium-sized satellites in the future. The company says its production facility near Munich, Germany can produce more than 30 missiles per year.

Spectrum was the first rocket to orbit from Western Europe, but many other rockets have taken off from other parts of the continent such as Russia (about 25% of Russia is in Europe, the rest in Asia). For example, the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow, has conducted many orbital launch operations over the past six decades.