Norway: Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket reaches orbit for the first time
German company Isar Aerospace has successfully placed its Spectrum rocket into low Earth orbit for the first time, launching a batch of CubeSats from a spaceport in northern Norway. The successful flight came after the rocket’s first test launch failed last year. This was reported by Ars Technica.
Astroscale contracts
Japanese company Astroscale, which specializes in satellite servicing and space debris reduction, signed two launch contracts with Isar Aerospace before Spectrum reached orbit.
One contract provides for the launch of the ELSA-M mission, led by Astroscale’s British subsidiary. The spacecraft is intended to capture and deorbit a satellite from the Eutelsat OneWeb broadband constellation, demonstrating end-of-life satellite servicing.
The second mission is ADRAS-J2, which is partly funded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA. The spacecraft is expected to attempt to capture a defunct Japanese rocket body in space and deorbit it. It was preceded by the ADRAS-J mission, which approached and inspected the same object in 2024.
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Demand for dedicated launches
Astroscale Chief Operating Officer Chris Blackerby said that a dedicated launch is practically necessary for most of the company’s missions. A rideshare launch with other payloads makes it more difficult to place a spacecraft into the specific orbit needed to approach a target satellite or piece of space debris.
According to Blackerby, the ADRAS-J2 and ELSA-M missions fall within the approximate range of 500–700 kilograms and therefore cannot use Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, which launched the previous ADRAS-J mission. He noted that the market has few consistently reliable options for dedicated launches of payloads in the sub-one-ton class that also meet payload capacity, budget and orbit requirements.
Astroscale expects a more consistent, commercially viable satellite-servicing ecosystem to begin taking shape in the early 2030s. The company currently has eight or nine missions in production in different countries.
