PLD Space: Spain follows the Elon Musk template

FPI / October 13, 2024

Geostrategy-Direct

By Richard Fisher

Consider this proven formula for private sector business success in space: 1) Find a motivated, charismatic leader; 2) Develop a family of modular and reusable space launch vehicles (SLVs) to reduce production/launch costs and generate public and private sector business; and 3) Set your sights on sending people and cargo to the Moon and Mars to motivate increasing government support.

You would have been correct to recall Elon Musk’s SpaceX Corporation, but in the near future, you could also be considering Spain’s PLD Space, perhaps Europe’s first private sector space launch company to develop its own version of the model made famous by Elon Musk.

Payload Aerospace S.L., or PLD Space, was founded in 2011 in Elche, Spain, by Raul Torres and his friend Raul Verdu; both have been described as “passionate” space hobbyists in their youth and are now realizing their dreams/ambitions.

Today PLD Space has 254 employees and has so far raised 155 million Euros ($170) in funding and in 2019 completed negotiations for launching its SLV’s at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) space launch facility in French Guiana, South America.

With development and production facilities located in Elche, near Alicante on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, PLD Space achieved its first space launch success with the sub orbital launch of its 12.7-meter and 2,550-kilogram weight Miura-1 (Fighting Bull) on Oct. 7, 2023.

One year later on Oct. 7, 2024, PLD Space held a press conference to provide an update on its now expansive SLV and manned space programs.

This included an update on PLD Space’s next SLV, the Miura-5, that grew out of the selection of PLD Space by the European Space Agency to begin development of a reusable space launcher first stage.

It could be launched in mid-2025 and will be a 37.5-meter, 2 meter diameter two stage rocket powered by the kerosene/liquid-oxygen fueled Teprel-C engine, capable of placing a payload of 540 kilograms in a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

Miura-5 will form the basis of the follow-n “Miura-Next” family of larger and then multi-core progressively more capable SLVs.

The first Miura-Next will be a 60-meter 3.5 meter diameter two-stage rocket with five Teprel-C engines, capable of lofting 13.5 tons to the International Space Station (ISS) in a single-use version, or can loft 10.2 tons to Low Earth Orbit when using a reusable first stage.

The Miura-Next could fly as early as 2030 and then one to two year later, PLD Space intends to fly its “Miura-Next Heavy,” a tri-core, 15-engine version of Miura-Next with three parallel first stages, capable of lofting 36 tons to ISS orbit.

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