Fisherman disrupted launch Second Test Flight of Isar Aerospace Rocket Canceled

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Europe’s space industry had hoped for the planned test flight of a German rocket in Norway. The launch did not take place — a dispute between local fishermen and the spaceport is simmering. The Bavarian rocket manufacturer Isar Aerospace is fully booked through 2028, despite the rocket not yet being production-ready.

The eagerly anticipated second test flight of a German space rocket in Norway, watched closely by the space and defence industries, failed because of a Norwegian fisherman. Skipper Olafur Einarsson admitted to the newspaper Kyst og Fjord that he had not left the maritime safety zone around the Andøya spaceport in time. As a result, the launch scheduled for Wednesday evening at 21:21 was aborted. Prior to this, the rocket manufacturer Isar Aerospace had blamed the intrusion of an unauthorised boat into the safety zone.

Countdown had to be halted

After Einarsson’s boat was spotted, the countdown was stopped. According to the company, restarting the countdown would have exceeded the authorised launch window. In his interview with the paper, fisherman Einarsson denied any intentional sabotage of the launch: “We actually intended to be finished earlier, but we had problems with the current and a tangle with the fishing gear.” The newspaper reports that Einarsson had previously disrupted a military exercise in the area, but the fisherman rejects any malicious intent.

Fishermen fear for their fishing grounds

In the background, tensions are simmering between the local population and the spaceport. Andøya is a large island north of the Lofoten, and fishermen fear restrictions on access to their fishing grounds. “For us fishermen this is our workplace, and then they come and want to use the same area,” Einarsson told the paper. “You could say we’ve got a bad neighbour.”

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Bookings extend to 2028

Once mature, Spectrum is intended to place civil and military satellites into low Earth orbit a few hundred kilometres above the ground. Around 60 per cent of inquiries now come, Metzler says, from the military sector. The company aims to produce 40 rockets a year. According to Metzler, Isar Aerospace is already booked with contracts worth several hundred million dollars through 2028, even though the rocket is not yet in series production. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) underlined the company’s political significance when he visited the Andøya site on 13 March together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Europe falling behind

The high level of interest is due to Europe’s current relative inability to launch satellites using its own technology. For a long time, the vast majority of European satellites have been launched by SpaceX. Metzler noted that last year the US launched 198 rockets, the rest of the world 124—and Europe only eight.

Europe’s former space chief Jan Wörner described European sovereignty in space as an important issue, particularly in times of geopolitical instability. “While Europe has been and remains very active in Earth observation and satellite navigation, sovereignty in launch vehicles has been limited to Ariane and Vega,” the former head of the European Space Agency told the German Press Agency.

With start‑ups such as Isar Aerospace, Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse, Germany is now active in the microlauncher sector. “The pressure for successful launches is particularly high in Germany, whereas Elon Musk in the US can treat failures positively and even celebrate them,” Wörner said. “That context must be considered when assessing Isar’s setback. ‘Rockets are tricky,’ Musk rightly wrote.”

Metzler emphasised the importance of independent access to space for Europe: “The strategic reality confronting Europe is that we can have grand space plans, but if we have no road to space, that will be difficult.” Without a presence in space, there is no early warning of missile attacks, no secure communications and no timely response to disasters, he warned.

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Ariane 6’s late start must also pick up pace

Even if Spectrum reaches series maturity one day, it will not reach the higher orbits that larger rockets can attain. The Franco‑German ArianeGroup, which produces the long‑delayed Ariane 6, plans to launch seven to eight Ariane 6 rockets this year. Unlike Spectrum, Ariane is a heavy launcher capable of placing much larger payloads into geostationary orbit nearly 36,000 kilometres above the Earth. Isar Aerospace does not currently plan to develop a heavy launcher, Metzler made clear in January.