international launch… China, which attempted 92 orbital launches in 2025, is in second place, followed by Russia, which attempted 17 launches last year, and Europe with eight launches. The analysis shows that completing the 2025 orbital launch would have involved five orbital launch attempts from India, four from Japan, two from South Korea and one each from Israel, Iran and Australia. The global launch tally has been trending upward since 2019, but the numbers may remain stagnant this year. SpaceX expects to launch roughly the same number of Falcon 9 rockets this year as it did last year as the company prepares to increase the pace of Starship flights.
South Korean startup faces launch failure. The first commercial rocket launched at Brazil’s Alcântara Space Center crashed shortly after takeoff on Dec. 22, dealing a blow to Brazilian aerospace ambitions and that of South Korean satellite launch company Innospace, Reuters reports. According to Innospace, the South Korean startup that developed the launch vehicle, the rocket began its vertical trajectory as planned after liftoff, but fell to the ground after something went wrong 30 seconds into flight. Officials said the plane crashed in a pre-determined safety zone and caused no harm to anyone.
An unexpected result...This was the first flight of Innospace’s nano-launcher, named Hanbit-Nano. The rocket was loaded with eight small payloads, including five deployable satellites, going into low-Earth orbit. But the track record of rocket debuts isn’t always good, and Innospace’s rocket made it a bit further than some new launch vehicles. The rocket is designed to place a payload mass of up to 200 pounds (90 kg) into sun-synchronous orbit. It has a unique design, in which hybrid engines take a mixture of paraffin as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. Innospace said it intends to launch a second test flight in 2026. (Submitted by EllPeaTea)
Take two for Germany’s Isar Aerospace. Isar Aerospace is preparing for the second launch attempt of its lightweight-class Spectrum rocket after completing a 30-second integrated static test firing of both stages late last year, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. The attempt will be the first orbital launch for Spectrum and a clean mission attempt after the March 30 flight ended in failure because a vent valve inadvertently opened shortly after liftoff, causing a loss of control. Daniel Metzler, co-founder and CEO of iSAR Aerospace, said, “Rapid iteration is how you win in this field. Being back on the pad less than nine months after our first test flight is proof that we can operate at the speed the world now demands.”
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