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Rocket guidance: software that takes Europe's new rockets to orbit

Guidance, navigation and control (GNC) keep a rocket on course. On 5 September 2026, Isar Aerospace became the first commercial company from Europe to put satellites into orbit, on only the second flight of its Spectrum rocket18.

Start-up · 400+ employeesControl · optimisationReal time
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Free, no sign-up, every statement with a source.

An example of rocket guidance: launch and landing of a Falcon 9 as a light trailImage: SpaceX · CC0

01 · Research

What is researched here: learning from 30 seconds of flight

Spectrum's first test flight on 30 March 2025 ended after about 30 seconds. Isar identified an unintended opening of a vent valve and a loss of attitude control at the start of the roll manoeuvre as the initiating events. Afterwards the company adjusted its software, among other things19.

For landing rocket stages, research goes even further: SpaceX computes the landing trajectory during flight with optimisation directly on board, generated with the tool CVXGEN17.

And history is a warning: Ariane 501 was lost in 1996 because an unprotected number conversion in Ada code stopped the reference system76.

Launch Roll manoeuvre 100 km altitude Stage separation Deploy satellites
Own diagram of the flight phases of flight 2: Spectrum crossed the Kármán line at 100 kilometres and successfully deployed the satellites18.

02 · End product

The end product: a rocket that reliably deploys satellites

Flight 2 carried small satellites from TU Berlin, the University of Maribor, EnduroSat, NTNU and the TU Wien Space Team58. The payloads were selected through the German Space Agency at DLR's competition for universities and start-ups18.

Isar Aerospace has more than 400 employees at 5 locations18.

Ariane 5 before launch with Webb, December 2021Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls · public domain

03 · Daily work

What the work looks like: 4 tasks every flight demands

  1. Compute trajectories: find a path that reaches the target without exceeding what the hardware can do17.
  2. Protect values: safeguard every number conversion; exactly this was missing on Ariane 50176.
  3. Test with overlap: at equipment, stage and system level, as the Ariane 501 inquiry recommended77.
  4. Learn from failures: analyse flight data, find causes and adjust the software19.

Keywords from the sources

On-board optimisationCVXGENAttitude controlAda (Ariane 5, 1996)

04 · Your path

Your way in: 4 steps

  1. HTL, computer science

    First measurements in flight: in the CanSat competition, a rocket lifts your device to at least 700 metres56.

  2. Bachelor

    Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Klagenfurt combines robotics, control and software35.

  3. Master

    Aerospace Engineering at FH Wiener Neustadt, 120 ECTS, in English42.

  4. Entry

    At a rocket start-up like Isar Aerospace18 or as an ESA Graduate Trainee1.

05 · Who is hiring?

More employers around rockets and propulsion

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