German startup Isar Aerospace successfully sent its two-stage Spectrum rocket into low Earth orbit from a spaceport in Norway, marking the first entirely commercial orbital launch from continental Europe. The achievement follows a failed attempt last March, when the rocket crashed into the sea just 30 seconds after liftoff. CEO Daniel Metzler called it a new chapter for European spaceflight and sovereign access to space.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-06
Isar Aerospace, a German startup founded in 2018 by three Technical University of Munich students, launched its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Spaceport in Arctic Norway on Saturday. The two-stage, 92-foot rocket reached low-Earth orbit about seven minutes after liftoff, marking the first fully commercial European launch vehicle to do so. CEO Daniel Metzler called it a milestone giving Europe independent access to space.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-06
German startup Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket from the Andoya spaceport in Arctic Norway, marking the first orbital launch from Western European soil. The mission, carrying five small satellites and a technology experiment, served as both a vehicle qualification test and the company's first payload flight, following a failed attempt 18 months earlier.
science.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-06
German rocket startup Isar Aerospace successfully placed satellites into orbit during its second launch attempt, dubbed 'Onward and Upward,' lifting off from Andøya Space in Norway. The rocket cleared key milestones including max dynamic pressure, stage separation, second-stage ignition, and crossing the Kármán line before completing spacecraft separation. The payloads came from a German Space Agency competition offering educational institutions and startups affordable orbital access.
isaraerospace.com
· 2026-09-06
German company Isar Aerospace launched its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Space Center in Norway on Sept. 5, and about seven minutes later the vehicle reached an elliptical orbit. It was the rocket's second attempt, after a March 2025 debut flight failed less than a minute after liftoff due to a valve issue and loss of attitude control.
space.com
· 2026-09-05
Isar Aerospace has finished stage testing for its second Spectrum rocket launch from Andøya Space in Norway, less than nine months after its debut test flight in March. Both vehicle stages passed 30-second integrated static fire tests, confirming readiness for final integration and launch preparations.
isaraerospace.com
· 2026-09-05
Isar Aerospace has opened a weeklong launch window starting Friday at Andøya Spaceport to try again to send its Spectrum rocket to orbit carrying small CubeSats. The German company's first orbital test failed shortly after liftoff last year, and repeated attempts since January have been delayed by technical issues and range availability. The launch comes as Norway observes a period of mourning for King Harald V, though officials say the mission can proceed as planned.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-04
Scientists led by Endawoke Yizengaw at The Aerospace Corporation analyzed data from the intense November 2025 solar storm and found unprecedented, coast-to-coast atmospheric disturbances across the continental United States. These disturbances pushed GPS positioning errors past 10 meters in some regions, a scale of disruption not previously documented.
sciencealert.com
· 2026-09-03
GoPro has been bought by Starman Holding, a diversified holding company with ties to phone case brands like Incipio and Incase, in a $285 million cash deal characterized as a merger. GoPro CEO Nick Woodman is now positioning the company as an imaging and optics business serving national security, AI infrastructure, and aerospace markets rather than just consumer action cameras. The deal follows closely on the heels of YouTuber Markiplier becoming GoPro's largest shareholder without disclosing it in a sponsored review.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-01
Kraus Hamdani Aerospace, co-founded by Stefan Kraus, has developed a drone-based communications system designed to connect military personnel using both legacy and modern radio equipment. Kraus argues that decades-old military radio technology remains reliable because it has been extensively tested in the field, and the US military continues to rely on it rather than abandoning it.
bbc.com
· 2026-08-24
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