Space travel
German rocket should start on Saturday
Weather conditions make the test flight of a German carrier rocket difficult. Now a new date for the first start of such a missile from continental Europe is scheduled.
The first test flight of the Spectrum rocket of the southern German start-up Isar Aerospace will not start before March 29. The company announced that. The start is now planned for Saturday, but remains depending on weather conditions, security considerations and other conditions.
The rocket had already refueled on Monday at the starting place at the Norwegian room port of Andøy. After that, several starting options had been brought into play, most recently was the name of it, on Friday it could start.
According to Isar Aerospace, the aim of the test flight is to gain as much data and as much experience as possible. The fact that the rocket reaches the orbit is largely excluded. In the past, no company had managed to get his first rocket into the orbit, a spokeswoman emphasized in advance. “The rocket can explode, which is even likely as part of the test flight,” she said. “30 seconds would be a great success.”
The Spectrum rocket is 28 meters long and has a diameter of 2 meters, depending on which orbit it is striving to, the commercial load that it can carry – called the space jargon Payoad – lies at 700 to 1,000 kilos. According to the current planning, it should already be used by satellites.
The start of the test missiles from Norway should be a double premiere: not only the first flight for Isar Aerospace, but also the first start of an orbital launch in continental Europe.
dpa
Source: Stern
