The rocket manufacturer Isar Aerospace from Ottobrunn won the EIC Horizon prize for cost-effective space transport in an EU competition. EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Tuesday that putting small and medium-sized satellites into orbit with the Spectrum two-stage launch vehicle “will make a significant contribution to achieving our European space ambitions for autonomous, reliable and cost-effective access to space “. The company, founded in Ottobrunn near Munich in 2018, intends to invest the prize money of ten million euros in research, development, testing and launch infrastructure. The first test flight is planned for the end of the year.
Isar Aerospace has already won commercial and institutional customers. Investors include Airbus, Porsche SE and former SpaceX manager Bulent Altan. CEO Daniel Metzler said: “More than 90 percent of our investors are European and around 90 percent of our development, production and supply chains are located in the EU.” In order to be competitive, the European economy must be able to put satellites into orbit on its own. The German government’s aerospace coordinator, Anna Christmann, said: “Advanced technologies in space are key to monitoring and controlling climate change.”