ESA Backs Isar Aerospace Through Boost! Program
Awards Contract Valued at $15.7 Million for Spectrum Flight Tests
The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract valued at some $15.7 million to Isar Aerospace as part of its Boost! program. The contract adds additional funds to Isar Aerospace's position as the most capitalized independent New Space company in Europe with more than EUR 400m (≈$419 million) in total private funding, and further contributes towards strengthening Europe’s capabilities for commercial space transportation, ensuring 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.”
Stella Guillen, Isar Aerospace.
The funds from ESA will support Isar Aerospace’s preparations of the first and second test flights of Spectrum, its efforts in building a scalable series production, and the production of the next-generation engines for the second test flight.
“In the light of the current political developments, it becomes even clearer why Europe must now change its approach to ensuring access to space. 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,” said Stella Guillen, Chief Commercial Officer of Isar Aerospace.
As Isar Aerospace progresses towards the first test flight of its fully in-house developed launch vehicle, Spectrum, the company is simultaneously working on the industrialization of its launch service and expansion. A new 40.000 square meter production facility and headquarters of Isar Aerospace is currently under construction in Parsdorf/Vaterstetten, outside of Munich. With a future production volume of up to 40 Spectrum launch vehicles per year, the facility will become home to a world-leading commercial launch vehicle production. Isar Aerospace has established itself as a technological leader, having developed proprietary know-how through full vertical integration as well as through owning design, production, and testing operations taking place entirely in-house.
“Europe’s emerging commercial launch service providers are pushing towards their first launches,” said ESA’s Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, “we are very interested to see their rockets deliver, diversifying the European launch services on offer.”
The ESA Boost! program aims to foster commercial initiatives in space transportation services to, in, and from space. The program provides co-funding, expertise, and access to ESA facilities to help bring these services toward operation.