Technische Universität München
TUM spin-off launches first rocket
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH
NEWS RELEASE
Success for innovation ecosystem in aerospace
TUM spin-off launches first rocket
Isar Aerospace, a spin-off of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has conducted the first test flight of its rocket - and thus also the first launch of a carrier rocket designed to transport loads into orbit from Western Europe. In future, the system will be used to launch small and medium-sized satellites into space, which are crucial for numerous emerging technologies. The founding of the start-up by three graduates was intensively supported at TUM.
From communication networks to autonomous driving or digital agriculture: for dozens of new technologies, satellites are needed for data transfer. To make this possible, providers want to fire entire swarms of satellites into space. They will be relatively small and will move in low orbits. But existing rockets used for satellite launches are designed for much larger payloads.
The TUM spin-off Isar Aerospace has therefore developed a 28-metre-long carrier rocket tailored to small and midsized satellites. Today, the company launched it for the first time from the Norwegian spaceport Andøya. After the successful start, it made a short flight before falling. This is common for rocket tests, which are initially used to gather data and experience.
The test flight was the first launch of a carrier rocket towards orbit from Western Europe. The larger European Ariane rockets are launched into space from French Guiana in South America. Nowadays, the development of a European space infrastructure is considered important not only for economic but also for geopolitical reasons.
Origins in the student research group WARR
The founders Daniel Metzler, Josef Fleischmann and Markus Brandl studied aerospace at TUM. After starting their company in 2018, they built their first prototypes in the MakerSpace high-tech workshop of UnternehmerTUM, the Center for Innovation and Business Creation at TUM. They also received support in the center’s XPRENEURS incubator. Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners invested in the start-up along with various other investors. So far, Isar Aerospace has raised more than 400 million euros in several funding rounds. The company is based near the TUM Department of Aerospace and Geodesy
“This is a great success for our alumni and also further proof of the strength of our start-up ecosystem,” says TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann. “Isar Aerospace had its beginnings at TUM, the founders were already working on rocket engines in the student research group WARR. They were also accompanied and supported by us during the first steps of growth. And now the company has taken a huge step with the first flight of its space rocket. I congratulate them on this masterpiece and am proud that we as a university have contributed as well.”
Further information:
The innovation ecosystem centered around TUM is regarded as one of the most successful deeptech hubs in Europe. Its strengths are its strong, diverse network and particularly specific support. In initiatives and co-labs, start-ups work on innovations with established companies, experts, investors and administration. TUM and UnternehmerTUM, the Center for Innovation and Business Creation, support start-up teams with programs that are precisely tailored to the individual phases of the founding process and the teams. The TUM Venture Labs offer direct access to cutting-edge research, technical infrastructure and market expertise in twelve fields of technology. Most recently, more than 100 companies were founded at TUM and more than 1,100 start-up teams were supported by UnternehmerTUM and the Venture Labs in one year. UnternehmerTUM, which invests with its own venture capital fund, has twice been voted Europe's best start-up hub by the Financial Times.
https://www.tum.de/en/innovation/entrepreneurship
As an expert in rocket technology, sustainable space technology and space policy, Prof. Chiara Manfletti from the Chair of Space Mobility and Propulsion at TUM is available for interviews.
Contact:
Tel.: +49 152 52334244
chiara.manfletti@tum.de
https://www.asg.ed.tum.de/en/spm/homepage/
TUM-Department Aerospace and Geodesy: https://www.asg.ed.tum.de/en/asg/home/
TUM Corporate Communications Center contact:
Klaus Becker
Media relations
Tel.: +49 89 289 22798
klaus.becker@tum.de
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of the world’s leading universities in terms of research, teaching and innovation, with around 700 professorships, 53,000 students and 12,000 staff. TUM’s range of subjects includes engineering, natural and life sciences, medicine, computer sciences, mathematics, economics and social sciences. As an entrepreneurial university, TUM envisages itself as a global hub of knowledge exchange, open to society. Every year, more than 70 start-ups are founded at TUM, which acts as a key player in Munich’s high-tech ecosystem. The university is represented around the world by its TUM Asia campus in Singapore along with offices in Beijing, Brussels, Mumbai, San Francisco and São Paulo. Nobel Prize laureates and inventors such as Rudolf Diesel, Carl von Linde and Rudolf Mößbauer have conducted research at TUM, which was awarded the title of University of Excellence in 2006, 2012 and 2019. International rankings regularly cite TUM as the best university in the European Union.