Space transportation leader Isar Aerospace secures 15 million euros ESA contract
by Robert Schreiber
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
Isar Aerospace has signed a new contract worth over 15 million euros with the European Space Agency (ESA) under the Boost! program. This funding strengthens the company’s position as Europe’s most well-funded independent New Space company, with over 400 million euros in private backing, and enhances Europe’s commercial space transportation capabilities to ensure sovereign access to space.
“In the light of the current political developments, it becomes even clearer why Europe must now change its approach to ensuring access to space,” said Stella Guillen, Chief Commercial Officer of Isar Aerospace. “We are pleased to see the European Space Agency changing towards commercialization and pushing programs like Boost! and the European Launcher Challenge – but this second Boost! contract can only be the beginning. To become competitive globally, we need institutions and governments to clearly shift from funding the development to becoming frequent customers.”
The funding will assist Isar Aerospace in advancing preparations for the first and second test flights of its Spectrum launch vehicle. It will also support scalable series production and the development of next-generation engines for Spectrum’s second test flight.
ESA’s Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, commented on the role of emerging commercial providers, stating, “Europe’s emerging commercial launch service providers are pushing towards their first launches. We are very interested to see their rockets deliver, diversifying the European launch services on offer.”
Isar Aerospace continues to advance its plans for the maiden flight of Spectrum, a fully in-house developed launch vehicle. The company is also expanding its production capabilities with a new 40,000-square-meter facility near Munich, designed to produce up to 40 Spectrum launch vehicles annually. This site will serve as a hub for advanced launch vehicle manufacturing, leveraging the company’s vertically integrated model, which encompasses proprietary design, production, and testing conducted entirely in-house.
The ESA Boost! program is designed to promote commercial initiatives in space transportation by providing co-funding, technical expertise, and access to ESA facilities to accelerate the operational readiness of these services.
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