The German startup interest Aerospace developed the orbital rocket "Spectrum," which crashed shortly after launch in Norway on the 30th (local time).
According to Reuters, AFP, and Bloomberg, the Spectrum was launched around 12:30 p.m. that day from the Anewia spaceport in Arctic Norway, but crashed and exploded about 40 seconds later. This rocket is the first orbital rocket launched from the European continent, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has primarily conducted launches from French Guiana and Florida.
The Spectrum is a two-stage rocket with a length of 28 meters, designed to launch small to medium-sized satellites, with a capacity of about 1,000 kg. However, it did not carry a satellite on its first test launch. Fortunately, there were no injuries resulting from this crash. The launch was conducted after several delays due to bad weather, and interest noted that the goal of this test launch is to gain as much experience and data as possible.
Daniel Metzelaar, CEO of interest Aerospace, said, "The first test flight was a great success," noting, "We flew for 30 seconds and activated the 'flight termination system.'" In a pre-launch interview with foreign media, he expressed he did not expect to achieve orbital entry on the first attempt, stating, "The goal is to fly for about 30 seconds without exploding on the launch pad."
Despite this failure, interest Aerospace evaluated that it took an important step towards the growth of the commercial spaceflight market and the development of Europe's launch capabilities. Europe continues to strive to reduce dependence on the United States in commercial spaceflight, but this failure has raised concerns that more effort is needed for Europe to compete with the likes of SpaceX in the U.S.
Metzelaar said, "We have realized that we cannot rely on partner countries, and we want to have a launch site on the continent to serve the European market."
Interest has secured over 400 million euros in funding since its founding and is building a factory near Munich capable of producing 40 Spectrum rockets annually.