European rocket crashes, explodes shortly after launch

Spectrum rocket at launch - Photo taken from The Guardian video

On the evening of March 30, Vietnam time, a rocket launched from the Andoya Space Center in northern Norway crashed and exploded immediately after takeoff.

This was the first orbital rocket launched from continental Europe, excluding Russia.

According to the announcement, the Spectrum rocket, nearly 30 meters long and weighing 50 tons, developed by the German company Isar Aerospace, took off at 12:30 noon today local time (ie 17:30 the same day Vietnam time). However, the rocket lost control just 20 seconds after being launched.

Live video of the launch showed a loud explosion as the rocket landed at the Nordmela launch site. A crisis response team was immediately deployed following the incident.

However, it crashed shortly afterwards - Photo taken from The Guardian video

The Spectrum rocket is designed with two stages, using liquid oxygen and propane as fuel. This design is aimed at launching small satellites with a maximum payload of 1 ton into low Earth orbit.

The Spectrum's unique feature is the Aquila engine system developed by Isar Aerospace itself, with nine engines for the first stage and one vacuum version engine for the second stage, providing high performance and lower cost than many competitors.

Previously, Europe had high hopes of successfully launching the Spectrum rocket into orbit to gradually reduce its dependence on American companies such as SpaceX or Rocket Lab, and at the same time create incentives to attract private sector investment in the satellite launch technology industry. Europe wanted to achieve the necessary autonomy in the global space race.

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VNA

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ten-lua-cua-chau-au-roi-phat-no-ngay-sau-khi-phong-20250330205542292.htm