German launch company Isar Aerospace said it will expand its testing infrastructure at Sweden’s Esrange Space Center as it prepares for the second flight of its Spectrum rocket, currently expected no earlier than March 19.
Founded in 2018, Isar Aerospace is developing the 28-meter-tall Spectrum launcher, designed to deliver up to 1,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit. Initial launches are being conducted from Andøya Spaceport in Norway, with additional launch opportunities secured at a future commercial facility in French Guiana.
The company said the new “purpose-built acceptance test facility” at Esrange, near Kiruna in northern Sweden, will allow it to test more than 30 Aquila rocket engines per month and perform fully integrated stage acceptance tests. The site will operate alongside the company’s existing infrastructure at the center.
“With our second test facility at Esrange, we are unlocking new capabilities and accelerating our progress,” Isar Aerospace said. “The expanded site will allow us to test and qualify more engines and stages than ever before, supporting our ambition to make space access truly scalable.”
Esrange, operated by SSC Space, currently hosts two vertical test stands used by European launch developers. Isar Aerospace has used one of them since 2019 to test its Aquila engines, while the other supports Rocket Factory Augsburg’s Helix engine program.
The expansion comes as the company works toward its second Spectrum launch following an inaugural flight in March 2025 that ended prematurely when the rocket fell into the Norwegian Sea less than a minute after liftoff. A planned January 2026 launch attempt was later postponed after engineers identified a pressurization valve issue during preparations.
Chief Executive Daniel Metzler said the upcoming mission is intended to demonstrate tangible improvements in performance and reliability. “Our goal with this mission is to demonstrate real progress, and to achieve that, we will once again push our systems to their limits,” he said, adding that the company is ready for the next available launch window.
Beyond testing, Isar Aerospace is scaling manufacturing capacity. Rockets for flights three through seven are already in production, and a new 40,000-square-meter facility near Munich is nearing completion. Once operational, the plant is expected to produce more than 30 Spectrum launch vehicles annually.
The company has raised more than €400 million in funding, excluding an additional €150 million secured through a convertible bond, as it competes in Europe’s growing small-launch market.
