The second test flight of German start-up Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket has been called off moments before lift-off at Norway’s Andoya spaceport after a Norwegian fisherman blundered into a safety zone.

The company said the launch was “aborted during autosequence” after “a hold in countdown due to a range violation of the danger area by an unauthorised boat”.

It said the countdown reset exceeded the launch window.

Fisherman Olafur Einarsson told the newspaper Coast and Fjord on Thursday (local time) that he failed to leave the maritime safety zone around the Andoya Space Centre in time.

Munich-based Isar Aerospace, founded in 2018, is a European rival to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Spectrum is designed to carry civilian and military satellites into low earth orbit.

A successful mission would mark a major milestone for Europe’s space industry, potentially enabling satellites to be launched from the continent using rockets built in European countries.

Europe lags the US, China and India in the space sector, amid delays in the development of the European Space Agency’s Ariane 6 launcher.

Isar previously postponed its first launch in January because of a defective valve.

The second test was forced to be delayed on Wednesday due to the actions of Einarsson. He is also believed to have disrupted a military exercise in the area in the past.

Einarsson denied any malicious intent, saying his boat had “problems with the current and a mess with the fishing gear”.

Fishing boats in the region have complained about the development of the space base at Andoya, an island north of the Lofotens inside the Arctic Circle.

“For us fishermen, this is our workplace, and then they come here and want to use the same area,” Einarsson said.

“You could say we’ve ended up with a bad neighbour.”

While the delay was a setback for Isar, chief executive and co-founder Daniel Metzler had sought to lower expectations of the launch on Tuesday, pointing to SpaceX, which needed four attempts to reach space.

The growing importance of the Andoya space base, which was founded in 2018, was underlined earlier in March when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stohre.

Metzler said about 60 per cent of inquiries for Isar’s rockets came from the military sector.

He said the company already had orders as far ahead as 2028 worth several hundred million dollars, even though the rocket is not yet ready for serial production.

The company has not yet announced a date for a new launch.

—AAP