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Computer simulation of the "Spectrum" rocket: the company promises satellite launches at a low price
Photo: --- / dpa
The Bavarian rocket start-up Isar Aerospace is getting fresh money from a prominent address: the Porsche Automobil Holding of the VW owner families Porsche and Piëch.
The Stuttgart holding company of the Volkswagen heirs is acquiring a stake in the low single-digit percentage range, as the company announced.
Isar Aerospace develops and produces launch vehicles for the transport of satellites.
"As an investor with a focus on mobility and industrial technologies, we are convinced that inexpensive and flexible access to space will ensure innovations in many industrial sectors," said Lutz Meschke, the manager responsible for investments at Porsche Holding.
Isar Aerospace has not yet launched any satellites into space, but is planning the first rocket launch for the coming year.
The "Spectrum" rocket developed by the company is intended to offer a particularly cost-effective and flexible transport option for satellites.
Cost advantages over carrier rockets are to be achieved in particular with a high degree of automation in the manufacture of the rockets.
The Bavarian start-up is entering a market that has recently been increasingly targeted by companies such as SpaceX by Tesla boss Elon Musk.
The space company Blue Origin of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also using low-cost rocket technology to bring devices and tourists into space.
The participation of the Porsche Holding was concluded as part of a new financing round, in which Isar Aerospace from Ottobrunn near Munich collected around 75 million US dollars from Porsche and other investors.
In total, the company has raised a good $ 180 million in funds to date.
mic / dpa