Spectrum (rocket)

Spectrum is a two-stage orbital small-lift launch vehicle built by German company Isar Aerospace. Development of the Spectrum commenced during the 2010s. Much of its design has been produced internally. A key target during development was the price point of €10,000 ($11,700) per kg, as well as to be as flexible as possible as to suit a wide variety of payload requirements. Isar Aerospace has arranged to launch Spectrum from both the Andøya Spaceport in Norway and the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Early customers for the launcher include Airbus Defence and Space, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and Spaceflight, Inc. Spectrum is the first rocket developed/built in Germany to reach orbit, the first orbital rocket to launch successfully from Western Europe (European rockets had previously only launched from the Kourou spaceport, Russia has launched satellites from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome), and the first privately developed launch vehicle from Europe. Previously, three rockets developed in Germany had crossed the Kármán line (the V-2 in 1944; a rocket by the Berthold-Seliger research and development company in 1963; and the Mapheus sounding rocket in 2009).