News European small launch vehicle start-up news

[GLS]

I sure would put my money on a company with that level of confidence in their product.

 

[Urwumpe]

The first launch of Spectrum has been moved to Friday

 

[Urwumpe]

Something weird is going on there, but that is really on the the official channel that I subscribed months ago....

But it seems like we do have a livestream, despite early annoucements to not provide one. Looks like asking often enough helps.

Isar Aerospace

Isar Aerospace offers flexible launch solutions for satellite constellations and single satellites.

www.youtube.com

Livestream starts Saturday 12:15 CEST, now on Saturday because of ongoing weather constraints.

05:03 GMT+1 ∙ 27 Mar, 2025


Isar Aerospace has announced that the first test flight of Spectrum is moved to Saturday, 29 March, due to ongoing weather restrictions.

 

[diogom]

Something weird is going on there, but that is really on the the official channel that I subscribed months ago....

NSF, apparently:

NASASpaceflight.com (@nasaspaceflight.com)

The launch will be streamed 🔴LIVE🔴 by Isar Aerospace in collaboration with NASASpaceflight from 12:15 CET / 11:15 UTC. "Going full Spectrum" is the first test flight of Spectrum, the launch vehicle Isar Aerospace has designed, developed and built almost entirely in-house.

bsky.app

 

[Urwumpe]

Livestream is already up with a loop showing scenes from manufacturing and prelaunch campaign.

And lots of images proving that Andoya is the most pittoresque launch site on this planet. Prove me wrong!

 

[Urwumpe]

Its T-22:00 now.

 

[Fabri91]

Livestream's up - let's hope for the best!

 

[Urwumpe]

T-4 minutes now

 

[Urwumpe]

LIFTOFF!

 

[Urwumpe]

And return to launch site.... errr.

 

[Fabri91]

And that's not ideal

 

[GLS]

After all these years, it seems propellant sloshing is a lesson that is not fully ingrained in the industry... SpaceX also "battled" with the issue at the beginning.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, at least it cleared the tower and the crash looked surprisingly retro like USAF launches of the early 1960s. I think we all got what we came for.

 

[GLS]

And return to launch site.... errr.

I hope it got enough horizontal velocity to avoid bombing the pad.

 

[Urwumpe]

After all these years, it seems propellant sloshing is a lesson that is not fully ingrained in the industry... SpaceX also "battled" with the issue at the beginning.

Yes, looks like that. Propellant sloshing is also hard to simulate properly outside flight testing.

 

[Urwumpe]

I hope it got enough horizontal velocity to avoid bombing the pad.

I think it barely missed, but in the opposite direction, towards the island, not towards the sea!

 

[Fabri91]

I was just saying that thankfully it at least got safely away from the pad as things started to go wrong.

I just hope it isn't a case of swapped sensor plugs or anything similar.

 

[Urwumpe]

I just hope it isn't a case of swapped sensor plugs or anything similar.

It looks more like it was just destabilizing by propellant sloshing or another case of mistuned guidance loop. The initial pitchover was looking good, but it became quickly visible that it was struggling staying on course.

 

[Notebook]

Is it known if the FTS operated?

 

[GLS]

It looks more like it was just destabilizing by propellant sloshing or another case of mistuned guidance loop. The initial pitchover was looking good, but it became quickly visible that it was struggling staying on course.

Even in the initial wide camera image, before switching to the close-up view, the plume was already moving side to side while the vehicle still seemed vertical.