2d ago

German company set for first commercial rocket launch from Europe

www.newscientist.com

Preparations are under way for a rocket test flight in Norway that could make history and give Europe greater independence from the market leader in orbital launches, the United States.

Isar Aerospace says it is planning to launch on 24 March between 12.30pm and 3.30pm CET, weather permitting.

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Some background info on the company:
Isar Aerospace was founded by former students of the Technical University of Munich, who already participated in the WARR group which also won Elon Musk’s Hyperloop competition several times.
They received fundings from (among others) Airbus, NATO and a former SpaceX executive Bulent Altan (who studied at TUM as well).
Very impressive achievement already and a real hope for European space programs and independence!

I am so excited. It feels like my country is finally moving and doing something. After being dormant for decades. Yay!
- The sleeper (Europe as a whole) must awaken!
  
  I think it finally has. For the first time ever, I feel like Europe is actually doing something. It’s awesome.
- Polluting the planet for money. You country has been doing it for quite a while.
  
  I agree with you but for different reasons. The rockets can be considered as pollution. But they have a purpose.
  We should focus on how we abandoned nuclear energy and instead still use coal and even expand our coal mines. That is far worse in my opinion. We are literally coloured black on pollution maps, together with Poland. Meanwhile, France, the undisputed nuclear endorser in Europe, is the exact opposite.
  Our „Atomkraft, nein danke!“ attitude stinks.

Commercial/private spaceflights are dumb and shouldn't exist. Just more trash that flies at bullet speed in our orbit.
- I mean you do need satellites if you want to have satellite internet.
  
  Critical infrastructure shouldn't be in private hands. As Musk perfectly demonstrates right now.
  
  satellite internet is already a thing and there are already thousands satellites in space
- I want Star Trek but we're heading towards Alien instead.
- What about private bakeries?

This is an absolute basic necessity for a European Starlink, isn't it?
- Well, to be able to independently launch it: yes. But once the satellites are up, who cares about the car dealers-in-chief?
  & There's already Eutelsat; their satellites already seem to be providing internet much like Starlink: https://www.eutelsat.com/de/satelliten-dienste/satelliten-internet-breitbanddienst.html
  
  Eutelsat has geosynchronous orbits, which allows them to provide service over a much larger area per satellite and doesn't require very many satellites to serve a consistent geographical area as the earth rotates and the satellites orbit the earth.
  Problem is, though, geosynchronous orbit is 35,786 km altitude. Light travels at 3.0 x 10^8 m/s. So any signal takes 120ms to get to the satellite, and 120 ms to return. Any signal is going to have a 240ms latency at a minimum, and that's just physics.
  Starlink satellites have an altitude closer to 600 km. Light only takes about 2ms to get to that altitude, and 2ms to return. So the satellites add only about 4ms, which makes for easier and more seamless communication.
  In order to compete with starlink for most typical Internet applications, it'll require a bunch more satellites orbiting at much lower altitudes.
  
  I don't know much about this but I think these low earth orbit satellites bump into ozone molecules occasionally so their orbits will deteriorate after 5 years or so. That is to say, you need to replenish regularly.
- I suppose it could be done launching those satellites from French Guyana still

Will there be a live feed of the attempted launch?
- Unfortunately not.

Weren't we already launching rockets from the French Guiana?
- We do, but this is about continental Europe.
  
  Okay but why do we need that? As I read it Europa had a spaceport, now we have a second one, now what? I mean there was a reason to launch from SA and not Europe, right?
- Yes, but the news is that they are now launching from the European continent, making everything much cheaper because you don't have to transport rockets and payloads around the world.
  
  @tristipasta I thought it was more effective to launch the rockets from as close to the Equator as possible, as the gravitational field is less strong and so you need less fuel to take off.
  That's why US also launches rockets from Florida and the USSR and later Russia used/uses the Baikonur facility in Kazahstan.

While 2 man-babies are screeching into our devices 24/7 things are happening here in Europe.
Not only Isar but also the other, bigger company Ariane something.
Let's shoot our own internet satellites into space!

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