Isar Aerospace is a German aerospace company based in Ottobrunn near Munich. The company was founded in 2018. The company is named after a river that flows through Munich. The company is developing Spectrum, a two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket designed to launch 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit. Isar Aerospace intends to manufacture 80% of the rocket themselves, using primarily technology from the tech firms in the area surrounding Munich.

Funding

In 2018 Isar Aerospace received first angel investment from early SpaceX leader Bulent Altan and others. In April 2020 Isar Aerospace closed US$17M in Series A funding led by Earlybird and Airbus Ventures to build its space platform. In December 2020, the company got an additional €75 million ($91 million) in funding led by Lakestar and with participation of HV Capital and Ann-Kristin and Paul Achleitner as well as existing investors.

In July 2021, Porsche SE acquired a small stake in Isar Aerospace. The financial terms of the deal are not disclosed, but it is known that in the new round of financing, the startup raised about $75 million. Porsche explained of its investment that Isar Aerospace had great potential to become a leading European manufacturer of launch vehicles.

In March 2023, the startup raised a $165 million Series C from 7-Industries Holding, Bayern Kapital, Lombard Odier and existing investors. An additional $70 million was raised in 2024 from the NATO Innovation Fund and others as an extension of an earlier Series C round. The total funding is now greater than 400 million euros.

Partnerships

In April 2021, Isar Aerospace, signed a contract with Andøya Space to lease a launch pad. The 20-year deal allows the company to launch their Spectrum launch vehicle from Andøya Spaceport.

In January 2022 the company won European Commission's European Innovation Council (EIC) Horizon Prize "Low-Cost Space Launch", which included a grant of 10 million Euros.

In July 2022, Isar Aerospace announced that the French space agency, the CNES, selected the startup to be the first private company to launch from the Guiana Space Centre, in French Guiana. The company will use the launchpad formerly used by Diamant.

In November 2022, Isar Aerospace and Exotrail signed a multiple launch services agreement. The launch vehicle Spectrum will launch Exotrail's spacevan vehicle on several firm launches to low Earth Orbit (LEO) and geostationary transfer orbits (GTO) from Isar Aerospace's launch sites.

In May 2026, Isar Aerospace established a cooperation with the German maritime defence company TKMS as part of their (successful) bid for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project. Isar Aerospace would help establish sovereign Canadian access to space. Later in May 2026, Isar Aerospace has signed a letter of intent with Maritime Launch Services to conduct rocket launches from their Nova Scotia spaceport. On 7 July 2026, Isar Aerospace signed a 10-year agreement with Maritime Launch Services including a launch pad and other facilities needed for launching Spectrum from Spaceport Nova Scotia.

Test launches

Going Full Spectrum

On 30 March 2025, the inaugural launch of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket took place under the mission name "Going Full Spectrum". Launching from Andøya Spaceport, the liftoff was successful; however, the rocket experienced an anomaly 30 seconds into flight and was terminated, causing it to fall back to the earth and explode upon impact. An investigation found that the rocket's vent valve had opened unexpectedly, leading to a loss of attitude control at the start of the roll maneuver.

Onward and Upward

The second test flight of Spectrum, dubbed “Onward and Upward,” was due to launch 25 March 2026 from Andøya Space port, but was interrupted by a fishing boat that was stuck within the safety zone, seeing the launch be postponed to Saturday 27 March 2026. The launch would be postponed further, with 9 April 2026 marked as the earliest launch date, although the launch would be delayed again, this time due to a leak in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel. The launch was again pushed back on 15 June 2026, due to detected 'off-nominal behaviour in the vehicle's fluid systems'. The mission is intended as a qualification flight and will be the first flight of Spectrum to carry payloads, including several CubeSats and an experiment selected under the European Space Agency’s Boost! program.

See also

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