MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish company PLD Space plans to launch its first private suborbital reusable rocket before the end of this month, it said on Thursday, with a view to eventually entering the market for putting small satellites in space.
The microlauncher “Miura 1” – named after a renowned breed of Spanish fighting bulls – is being prepared for launch from a military facility in Huelva in southern Spain.
The launch will be the first step in PDL Space’s plans to start commercial activity in 2025 with an orbital rocket, “Miura 5”, currently under development.
“Every second the rocket is in the air is learning and data for the development of Miura 5. After 12 years, PLD Space will be the first private micro-launcher company to reach this historic milestone in the European space race,” Ezequiel Sanchez, PLD’s executive president, said in a press release.
Various countries’ and U.S. companies’ plans to deploy thousands of internet-beaming satellites in the next few years have spawned a wave of new rocket companies seeking a slice of what some analysts expect will be a trillion dollar space market by 2030.
Several European startups are racing to get a commercial satellite launcher ready to compete with those of private U.S. companies, after Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy following a failed launch in January.
PLD Space has been given the green light from the National Institute for Aerospace Technology to carry out a flight test by May 31, after completing an initial “hot test”, it said.
During that test, the company kept the Miura 1 engine running at full throttle for five seconds to check that it functions perfectly in a simulation environment.
For security reasons the exact date of the launch will only be announced 24 hours in advance, after two more tests are completed. Heavy rains and strong winds could still force the company to abort the mission.
The microlauncher “Miura 1” is as tall as a three-storey building, has a 100-kg (220-lb) cargo capacity and can also be used to carry out zero-gravity experiments.
PLD Space, founded in 2011, has raised more than 60 million euros ($66 million) in private and public funding.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, editing by Inti Landauro and Hugh Lawson)
