What the business is
Spanish launch startup developing the Miura microlaunchers, designed to deliver payloads and microgravity experiments
The bet
A recoverable microlauncher, proved on suborbital Miura 1, leads to Miura 5, a reusable-first-stage orbital rocket that fills Europe's small-launch gap
How it started
PLD Space said the Miura 1 launch culminated over 12 years of effort. Miura 1 is a suborbital microlauncher named after a Spanish bull breed, designed to deliver commercial payloads and enable microgravity research, and is a technology demonstrator for Miura 5.
What happened
Europe's small-launch effort had been set back in January 2023 by Virgin Orbit's failed launch from the UK, and Europe was without independent access to space with Ariane 5 retired, Ariane 6 delayed and Italy's Vega C grounded. On 2023-10-07 Miura 1 lifted off from southwest Spain at 02:19 CEST. It flew for 306 seconds to a maximum altitude of 46 km, about half the planned 80 km apogee and 12-minute flight, then splashed down in the Atlantic and was recovered within hours. PLD Space deemed the test a success.
What has to be true
Europe lacked independent access for satellites, so small-launch startups were expected to fill the gap
A suborbital demonstrator proves design, manufacturing and recovery before building the orbital Miura 5
Reusability aims to lower launch cost over time
The company had spent over 12 years of development reaching this first flight
What can be applied
A first test flight can be called a success while missing its target altitude when it proves design, manufacture and recovery, but the orbital Miura 5 was still planned for 2025 at the earliest.
Aftermath
As of 2023-10-09, PLD Space had flown Miura 1 to 46 km and recovered it, and was focusing on Miura 5, which could launch as soon as 2025.
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