00:00A fishing boat stopped this rocket. A stubborn valve did too. Even the cold stopped it twice.
00:07In the end only gravity couldn't stop it. Four times this year Spectrum was ready for launch
00:14on the Andoya ramp. Four times it was called off. And then on the fifth attempt on September 5th
00:21at T-0. 10-12 p.m. Central European time. This very rocket lifts off. And it fries through.
00:33Stage separation. Upper stage ignition. Orbit. Five satellites deployed. For the first time
00:39a privately funded European rocket has reached orbit. Built by a startup from Bavaria. Launched
00:45from Norway with the Viennese as the CEO. And with satellites from Vienna, Berlin and Maribor
00:51on board. Why the four aborts were not a flaw? What really happened during this 18 minute flight?
00:58And why there are already five more rockets ready behind the CEO? That's exactly what it's
01:05about today. My name is Irvan and this is Mars Chroniken. A quick look at the background because
01:14without it you can't understand that evening. Flight 1 in March 2025 lasted about 30 seconds.
01:23A vent valve opened unintentionally. During the roll maneuver orientation was lost. At T plus 30 seconds
01:30the flight termination system shut it down. ESA drew seven findings from around 100,000 components.
01:37Revised software and safety margins. And according to CEO Daniel Metzler removed several tense
01:43events. Then came 2026 and with it four aborts. On January 21st a pressurization valve jammed. The same type was
01:56installed in several places.
01:58ESA completely redesigned it in two weeks. On March 25th the countdown went down to T minus three seconds. Then
02:07a fishing boat entered the maritime exclusion zone.
02:10Technically ready for launch but without clearance from the range. Metzler commented dryly in the Senkrechtstarter interview that there are
02:17just people who don't follow the law.
02:20On April 9th and June 15th the same system failed twice. The tank pressurization system. According to Metzler the cause
02:30was too many cold cycles. The fluid system had been cooled down to minus 183 degrees Celsius and warmed up
02:38again so many times.
02:40It seems that it showed cracks. The answer was materials research and revised procedures. And even September 4th was postponed
02:48by another day.
02:50So the four aborts weren't a series of mishaps. That was engineering discipline. Plain and simple.
02:57Metzler's principle on this roughly from the Senkrechtstarter interview is that it's simply nonsense. To launch with a known and
03:07easily fixable anomaly.
03:09On the evening of September 5th everything was finally right. Weather, range, fluid system, fluid. At T minus three seconds
03:17the first stage's new engines ignited. And not simultaneously but in fractions of a second one after another so that
03:24no pressure surge rushes through the pipes.
03:27At T minus zero. 10-12 p.m. Central European time. The rocket lifted off. The new engines together deliver
03:35about 675 kilonewtons. That's about 69 tons of thrust for a 28 meter high rocket with a 2 meter diameter
03:46powered by liquid oxygen and propane. Almost no one else uses this fuel combination. And it's a deliberate ESA specialty.
03:54The first real test came early.
03:56Between T plus 25 and T plus 30 seconds is the point where flight one lost control and was shut
04:08down. This time the roll maneuvers and pitch over toward the north over the Norwegian sea went smoothly. From T
04:14plus 30 seconds on every additional second was uncharted territory for this vehicle.
04:19Next came max Q. The point of maximum aerodynamic stress on the carbon fiber structure according to the press kit
04:26flight plan at around T plus 70 seconds.
04:30This time is an approximation. ESA does not publish a second by second table. Spectrum also cleared this hurdle without
04:37any visible twitch.
04:38Then came a first for this rocket. Main engine cutoff of the first stage and stage separation. According to the
04:46flight plan this happens at around T plus 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
04:50The first stage is not reusable and fell as planned into the Norwegian sea.
04:54On top the vacuum optimized Aquila engine of the upper stage took over with 95 kilonewtons. That's about 9.7
05:03tons of thrust.
05:04The first ignition of an ESA engine in space ever. The payload fairing separated. The long burn phase towards sun
05:12synchronous orbits began.
05:14If you had to point out a flaw it would be the loose ends ESA forgot to tie up here.
05:22And then came the cutoff of the upper stage. ESA's live stream ended at about T plus 18 minutes with
05:28an expected loss of signal from the onboard cameras.
05:32Up to that point stage separation, upper stage ignition, fairing jettison and engine cutoff had been confirmed.
05:39The last mission updates were provided through ESA's ex-account.
05:43For the first time there were real payloads on board. Five small satellites in CubeSat format.
05:49Plus an experiment selected through the boost program of the European Space Agency ESA and the micro launcher competition of
05:56the German Space Agency at DLR.
05:59Saibisat from TU Berlin, Treesat S from the University of Maribor, Platform 6 from EnduroSat, FramSat 1 from NTNU in
06:10Norway and Space Team, SAT 1 from the TU Wien Space Team, which communicates with its own ground station in
06:19Vienna.
06:19In addition, let it go from the Cubed, which remained on the upper stage.
06:23On the morning of September 6th at 12.14 Central European Time and thus about T plus 14 hours after
06:32liftoff, ESA confirmed after circularization maneuver of the upper stage that all five CubeSats have been deployed.
06:40Metzler was quoted with a statement that, in translation, reads, Europe now has sovereign access to space.
06:48Whether the deorbit burn of the upper stage, as planned in the flight schedule, actually took place, had not been
06:54publicly confirmed by the time this script was finalized.
06:58I will update that as soon as ESA reports it.
07:01Their ex-post does not include it in the list of achieved milestones.
07:05Before we put all this into context, a quick plug of our own, fittingly on the topic of cadence.
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07:29And now back to Andoya, or rather to Passdorf.
07:33Because the real story is just beginning.
07:35Since August 27, ESA has had 197.8 million euros from the European Launcher Challenge bucking them.
07:46On the condition that it reach orbit by the end of 2027.
07:51This condition has now been met, more than a year before the deadline.
07:55The order book includes a Pelican Earth observation satellite from Planet Labs Germany for no earlier than the end of
08:022026.
08:03Two Astroscale missions for debris remover for 2027 and 2028.
08:10And a manifest extending beyond 2028.
08:14And the hardware for it already exists.
08:17In the Senkrechtstarter interview behind Metzler in the new hall in Passdorf were the rockets for flights 3 to 7.
08:24And the trade press also confirms.
08:27Five more Spectrum rockets in various stages of production.
08:31The whole measures around 40,000 square meters and is designed for up to 40 rockets per year.
08:39Metzler's logic is this.
08:40It's not the development of a rocket that's expensive, but the mass production.
08:44A proven product also sells completely differently than an unproven one.
08:50And the market is hungry.
08:52According to Metzler, most Western launch providers are sold out for years.
08:57By the way, half the neighborhood is part of the competition.
09:00Rocket Factory Augsburg is practically around the corner.
09:03Maya space in France, PLD space in Spain, the latter two also with money from the launcher challenge.
09:11In addition, Rocket Lab acquired the Bavarian space laser company Mineric this year and turned it into their European branch.
09:19And when you see how much production space ESA is currently building, one thought comes to mind, which I clearly
09:27label as speculation.
09:29Namely, that ESA might eventually build its own satellites.
09:34The role models SpaceX and Rocket Lab have been showing for years that the more lucrative business sits on top
09:40of the rocket.
09:42None of that has been announced.
09:44Let us know in the comments if you would like to see a competitor to Starlink from ESA Aerospace.
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10:05My honest assessment, clearly marked as opinion, this flight is the most important moment in European spaceflight in years.
10:13And that's not because of the 700 kilograms that the spectrum can carry into sun-synchronous orbit, but because of
10:20the system behind it.
10:22Factory, order book, testing capacity, a second launch site in Canada and a third in French Guyana.
10:28But one orbit is just a data point.
10:31And Metzler himself taught us what to think of individual data points.
10:38Skeptics rightly point out that there's a world of difference between a successful qualification flight and a reliable cadence.
10:45Just look at the four aborts this year.
10:48However, the counter-argument is just as matter of fact.
10:52Passdorf was chosen precisely for this transition.
10:55And the next five rockets already exist.
10:57My expectation, clearly marked as speculation.
11:02The intervals between launches will shrink to just a few weeks in the coming months.
11:07And by mid-2027, it could move toward a weekly schedule.
11:12No one has promised that.
11:14It can't be verified.
11:16The only thing that's certain is that Europe now has private access to orbit.
11:21And the pie that everyone is fighting over is growing faster than it can be divided.
11:27My name is Sirvan and this was Mars Chroniken.
11:30Thanks for tuning in.
11:31Per aspera ad astra.
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