{"id":80581,"date":"2023-11-04T04:22:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-04T11:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/europes-first-continental-spaceport-opens-in-major-boost-for-german-startup\/"},"modified":"2023-11-04T04:22:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-04T11:22:15","slug":"europes-first-continental-spaceport-opens-in-major-boost-for-german-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/europes-first-continental-spaceport-opens-in-major-boost-for-german-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s first continental spaceport opens in major boost for German startup"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n

Europe\u2019s first operational continental spaceport has officially opened in a major boost for Germany\u2019s Isar Aerospace \u2014 which is hastily preparing for its maiden flight from the site next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The And\u00f8ya Spaceport, located on the remote island of And\u00f8ya in Norway\u2019s northwest, was officially opened by Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon this week. <\/span>Once fully constructed, the spaceport will host several launch pads.<\/span> Isar Aerospace has exclusive access to the first launch site, where it will test its two-stage rocket Spectrum.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Norway's<\/img>
Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon was met by excited locals during the inauguration of the And\u00f8ya Spaceport this week. Credit: And\u00f8ya Spaceport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If the tests prove successful, the company aims to carry out commercial operations at the spaceport in order to <\/span>meet the growing demand for transporting <\/span>small- and medium-sized satellites<\/span> into space<\/a>. Isar looks to launch up to 15 missions per year from Andoya, at a cost of \u20ac10-12mn per flight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last five years, we have built a rocket that will help to solve the most crucial bottleneck in the European space industry \u2013 sovereign and competitive access to space,\u201d said Daniel Metzler, CEO and co-founder of Isar Aerospace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"an<\/img>
A 3D render showing the Spectrum rocket\u2019s stage separation following its launch into orbit. Credit: Isar Aerospace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Currently, Europe lacks independent access to space satellites, following the decommissioning of Ariane 5 earlier this year, and delays to the launch of its successor Ariane 6. Faced with no local alternatives, the European Space Agency (ESA) inked a <\/span>deal with Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX<\/span><\/a> last month for the delivery o<\/span>f four navigation and communications satellites into orbit next year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the ESA doesn\u2019t intend to rely on SpaceX beyond this launch, it may have no other option unless Europe\u2019s emerging new space startups<\/a> reach commercial viability soon. At present, two German startups, Isar Aerospace and <\/span>Rocket Factory Augsburg<\/span><\/a>, show the most promise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Founded in 2018 as a spin-off from <\/span>Technical University Munich,<\/span> Isar Aerospace has secured <\/span>\u20ac310mn to date, making it<\/span> Europe\u2019s most well-funded private space company. Rocket Factory Augsburg, while having raised only a tenth of that of its competitor, has secured exclusive access to the only other potential launch site in Europe \u2014 <\/span>SaxaVord Spaceport<\/span><\/a> in Scotland\u2019s Shetland Islands. Both startups planned to launch this year but have faced several delays. Both have now set their sights on 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently under construction, SaxaVord aims to host launches from next year, but, unlike <\/span>And\u00f8ya, has yet to secure its spaceport license.<\/span> As Europe\u2019s new space race heats up, the question remains: who will reach orbit first, Isar Aerospace from <\/span>And\u00f8ya Spaceport or Rocket Factory Augsburg from SaxaVord Spaceport? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europe\u2019s first operational continental spaceport has officially opened in a major boost for Germany\u2019s Isar Aerospace \u2014 which is hastily preparing for its maiden flight from the site next year. The And\u00f8ya Spaceport, located on the remote island of And\u00f8ya in Norway\u2019s northwest, was officially opened by Norwegian Crown Prince […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2668,410,397],"tags":[2667,409,395],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80581"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techreviewers.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}