Isar, Starlink, H3 on the manifest
A slate of launches is queued for mid‑March: Isar Aerospace targets a second Spectrum flight from Norway between March 16–22, multiple Starlink missions are planned, and JAXA’s H3 rocket faces a test — the launch window cluster is keeping the space launch calendar busy . Meanwhile, lunar/space startups are attracting capital — ispace just closed a $130M funding round, per coverage of the recent launch cycle chatter .
Isar Aerospace has designated the second Spectrum mission "Onward and Upward" with a no‑earlier‑than launch date of March 19 from Andøya Spaceport in Norway. (esa.int) Spectrum will carry six customer payloads on this qualification flight, five commercial/educational cubesats plus a technology experiment selected for in‑orbit demonstration. (esa.int) Isar’s vehicle uses nine Aquila engines on the first stage and a single vacuum‑optimized Aquila on the second stage, all burning liquid oxygen and propane as confirmed by the company. (isaraerospace.com) Following the March 30, 2025 maiden attempt, Isar’s anomaly review flagged an unintended vent‑valve opening and a loss of attitude control as drivers of the failure; the company shipped replacement stages and implemented pressurization fixes ahead of this flight. (europeanspaceflight.com) The March 16–22 calendar includes five planned Starlink launches during the week, and recent flights this month (for example Starlink 10‑48 on March 13) added 29 more broadband satellites to the constellation. (astronomy.com) JAXA executed the H3 first‑stage captive firing test No.2 on March 14 for the No.6 (Type‑30) test vehicle as part of the verification campaign toward an upcoming H3 mission, per schedule trackers and JAXA’s release. (spacelaunchschedule.com) Tokyo‑listed ispace reported a ¥18.2 billion capital raise in November 2025 to back its Mission‑3 and Mission‑4 lunar campaigns, a round the company tied directly to securing payload contracts and technical review support from JAXA and partners. (ispace-inc.com)
