Isar Aerospace won the main round of the German Space Agency's microlauncher competition at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). A jury of experts selected the Munich-based startup for Phase 2. Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, congratulated the young company, which only in December last year secured financing of 75 million euros:
"On behalf of the German Federal Government, I warmly congratulate Isar Aerospace Technologies GmbH, the winner of the main round of the Microlauncher competition. This New Space competition is an ideal tool to give young German companies a good start in a global future market. This approach stabilizes startups during the difficult start-up phase of their business and significantly improves their future prospects."
With this profit, Isar Aerospace will now receive 11 million euros from the “BOOST!” initiative in the “Commercial Space Transportation Services and Support” (C-STS) program of the European Space Agency ESA for the qualification and two demonstration flights of its "Spectrum" launch vehicle in 2022-2023. The Munich-based startup focuses on small launch vehicles (microlaunchers) that transport modern small satellites weighing up to 500 kilograms. Lower production costs for the vehicles should make it possible to cost-effectively launch entire swarms of satellites into Earth's orbit.
"We are building the next generation of rockets (launchers) in Europe. I am excited about three startups that all have the potential to disrupt European space travel. We are seeing launchers with more capacity than SpaceX's first "Falcon" and will be launching in the next two years. Unlike traditional space travel, these companies are developing their rockets with private funds and not at taxpayer expense. This is a radical paradigm shift. Germany is thus preparing for a new era of space travel, one that is moving from manufacturing to industry. We want to be at the forefront here and further expand our status as the No. 1 location in Europe."
supplemented Thomas Jarzombek, Federal Government Coordinator for Aeronautics and Space, patron and jury chairman of the German Space Agency's microlauncher competition and startup representative in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).
The microlauncher competition supports German SMEs that want to commercially develop small and modern launch vehicles with a payload of several hundred kilograms and offer launch services with a total of 25 million euros.
Isar Aerospace is not the only company working from Munich on its journey into space. Find out more about other space tech startups from Munich in this Munich Startup Podcast Episode.
