DcubeD on board for maiden flight of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum

sar Aerospace is Europe’s most promising and most well-funded private European launch service provider for small and medium satellite deployment. The company develops the ‘Spectrum’, a two-stage launch vehicle that offers flexible and cost-efficient access to space and is specifically designed for satellite constellation deployment. With a vertically integrated value chain, Isar Aerospace designs, develops and tests the launch system in-house and builds on a highly automated production and state-of-the-art production technologies like 3D-printing. This way, the company achieves maximum flexibility, speed, and autonomy. The first test flight of the Spectrum is scheduled for 2023 from Andøya, Norway.

After a successful first spaceflight in January 2022, on which DCUBED's nano release actuators nD3PP and nD3RN demonstrated their capabilities successfully, it's time for DCUBED's next bigger release actuator, uD3PP, to shine. The micro pin puller uD3PP is the perfect solution for linear actuation, ensuring that the critical mechanisms of the spacecrafts are locked during launch and deployed once in orbit, triggering deployable structures such as solar arrays and antennas. The flight aboard the Spectrum will serve as an in-orbit demonstration and provide further space heritage for DCUBED's products.

The in-orbit demonstration of the newly developed release actuator on the first test flight of Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum demonstrates how the growing start-up scene is partnering up in making space more accessible. With the local space industry in and around Munich growing and flourishing, this partnership is determined to inspire further collaborations amongst a striving eco-system.

“So far, we always had to use launch service providers from the US or New Zealand for in-orbit demonstration of our products. Having a launch service provider in Bavaria, that is just on the other side of Munich will simplify things. We are very excited to work together with Isar Aerospace for this mission and many more to come. We cannot wait until the day of the first test flight approaches”, says Thomas Sinn, CEO of DCUBED.

"We are pleased to host DCUBED's in-orbit demonstration on-board Spectrum’s first test flight. We are looking forward to collaborating with DCUBED and supporting them in the development of their technology ensuring a reliable launch of small satellites”, says Daniel Metzler, Co-Founder and CEO of Isar Aerospace.