German aerospace firm Isar Aerospace launched its first rocket on March 30, 2025, and is now preparing for its second mission on January 21, 2026. The upcoming launch is scheduled to take place from the company’s dedicated complex at Andøya Space in Norway, with the goal of further strengthening Europe’s sovereign access to space.
The European space company provides launch services for small and medium-sized satellites, as well as satellite constellations, delivering payloads into Earth orbit. Founded in 2018, Isar Aerospace is headquartered in the south eastern Ottobrunn municipality, near Munich, and has grown to more than 400 employees representing over 50 nationalities across five international locations. It is also backed by private funding from international investors, who support its ambitions to scale and industrialize launch vehicle production.
The “Onward and Upward” January 21 mission is supported by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Boost! programme, designed to encourage the development and commercialization of European launch services. Through Boost!, Isar Aerospace won the first Microlauncher Competition organized by the German Space Agency, leading to the selection of the payloads onboard this flight.
Central to the company’s strategy is a vertically integrated and highly-automated production system. As per Isar Aerospace, its team designs and manufactures the Spectrum launch vehicles almost entirely in-house, with vehicles 3-7 already in production and a new 40,000 square-meter facility near Munich opening this year.
The second flight of the Spectrum vehicle represents a significant step towards wider European space goals, serving both as the vehicle’s qualification mission and its first flight carrying payloads.
“This qualification flight is a deliberate step toward delivering sovereign access to space for Europe and allied nations. Just ten months after proving that launch vehicles can be designed, built, and launched from continental European soil, we’re ready to fly again,” said Daniel Metzler, CEO and co-founder at Isar Aerospace.
“Europe’s immediate need for space access is clear. Rapid iteration is essential to developing space capabilities precisely when they are required,” the executive added.
Meanwhile, Alexandre Dalloneau, Vice President of Mission and Launch Operations at Isar Aerospace, noted: “The insights we gain with this mission will strengthen Europe’s space infrastructure, a capability essential for defense readiness and economic resilience.”
Isar is part of a new generation of launch startups seeking to compete in a market long dominated by players such as SpaceX. As of this year, the company has raised approximately $594 million USD across 12 funding rounds. According to Tracxn, its largest funding round to date was a Series D round totaling $174 million in June 2025.
And, while SpaceX remains the global leader in orbital launches, Isar’s focus is firmly regional: the company aims to ensure that European governments and commercial operators can access space independently, without relying on non-European launch providers.
“We are building more than rockets; we are building the capability for nations to access and sustain space on their own terms […] Rapid iteration is how you win in this domain […] we can operate at the speed the world now demands,” Metzler emphasized.
Image: Spectrum ready for its first test flight from Andoya Spaceport, via Daniel Metzler on LinkedIn