PLD Space logo.
March 15, 2023
A Spanish company is about to launch its first space rocket into orbit. This tour allows us to get inside the launch base.
An artist's impression of PLD Space's Miura 1 rcket
The Elche-based private space company, PLD Space, is about to launch the MIURA 1, the first space rocket manufactured in Spain, which will also take off from the Huelva Space Port, which is almost complete.
PLD Space is a space company that is going to put the MIURA 1 space rocket into orbit during the first half of 2023. It will later carry out the first real space transportation mission with the MIURA 5, at the end of 2024.
The PLD Space team stood next to a Miura 1 rocket
Headquartered in Elche (Alicante) and with technical facilities in Teruel, Huelva and French Guiana, PLD Space has already achieved more than 60 million euros of investment to promote its project in the space sector.
European pioneer in satellite micro-launching
The ultimate goal of PLD Space is to become the leading European company in launching small satellites into orbit, using rockets manufactured here, and putting them into orbit from the Huelva Space Port.
Our facilities in Huelva
Only 13 countries in the entire world have launched their own space rockets. Spain could join the list this year with the MIURA 1.
It is a 12.2 meter high suborbital rocket that can carry a load of 100 kilos up to a height of between 120 and 150 kilometers, surpassing in height the manned flights of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic that we have seen in recent years. time.
Image above: Table MIURA 1 Baseline Data / Figure 2-1 MIURA 1 Rocket and Subsystems / Figure 2-2 Location of the EL Arenosillo Launch Site.
Their mission will be to complete scientific experiments in microgravity environments, which will be vital to preparing medicines, materials and other products that astronauts will have to use when they go to Mars. MIURA 1 can spend 3 minutes in microgravity, and the entire flight lasts 12 minutes.
MIURA 1 and MIURA 5 comparative size
In reality, MIURA 1 is a technological test for MIURA 5, a giant of more than 30 tons and 25 meters in length already in development, which wants to put satellites into orbit in 2024. It will be able to transport 300 kilos of cargo at 500 km of height.
MIURA 5 launch animation
The PLD Space project seems solid, and its first litmus test is very close. He wants to put the MIURA 1 space rocket into orbit in the first half of the year. If they succeed, we will enter the elite of the space race and the launching of satellites. A sector that will acquire a capital importance in the coming decades.
Related link:
PLD Space: https://www.pldspace.com/es/
Images, Videos, Text, Credits: PLD Space/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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