take off into space

Isar Aerospace has announced that it will launch its first rocket into space as early as mid-2022. It is now also clear where it will be launched from: From the island of Andøya in Norway.

Lots of water, rocks, known for its moorland landscapes and nothing around it - this is what the Vesterålen archipelago looks like. One of the islands is called Andøya, from where the start-up Isar Aerospace wants to launch its first rocket. The launch site is exclusively available to the Ottobrunners for 20 years, and the maiden flight is also to take place from Andøya. The plan is for the first rocket to be launched in mid-2022. At the beginning of the year, Isar Aerospace was still talking about the end of this year or the beginning of next year. The competition, however, such as Rocket Factory or Hyimpulse, both want to launch at an even later date.

The competition for the commercial use of space has long since begun, with US start-ups leading the way. But investors and politicians alike are pinning their hopes on Isar Aerospace: In December 2020, it received 75 million euros from German and European venture capitalists such as Earlybird and Lakestar. The latter has been involved since the second financing round, with CEO Klaus Hommels sitting on the start-up's Supervisory Board.

Isar Aerospace can use its Spectrum rocket to launch various goods into space, such as satellites for broadband supply. The start-up was founded in 2018 by Daniel Metzler, Josef Fleischmann and Markus Brandl from the Technical University of Munich.