This Saturday the official presentation of Miura 1, the first Spanish rocket, took place at its launch base at the El Arenosillo Experimentation Center (CEDEA), located on the coast of Huelva near Mazagón. During the day, the flight demonstration campaign of this suborbital microlauncher began, which will take place at the center in Huelva.
Developed by PLD Space, a young Spanish company based in Elche (Alicante) with facilities in Teruel, Huelva, and French Guiana, the rocket project has secured over 60 million euros in investment to push forward its space goals. The company’s founders, Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú, as well as its CEO, Ezequiel Sánchez, were present at the presentation event. Also in attendance were the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez; the Minister of Science, Diana Morant; the Secretary General of Innovation, Teresa Riesgo; the Commissioner for the Aerospace PERTE, Miguel Belló; and the director general of INTA, Lieutenant General Julio Ayuso Miguel, among other personalities.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez highlighted in his speech the importance of investing in science and knowledge to build a more prosperous and advanced society. “Not too long ago, the idea of a powerful and competitive aerospace industry in Spain seemed like a pipe dream, but today no one can deny that it is already a reality,” he stated.
PLD Space started this project 12 years ago, and according to Verdú, the suborbital rocket Miura 1 will serve to demonstrate over 70% of the technology of the sustainable orbital launcher Miura 5. It is envisaged to offer more than 14 annual launches of Miura 5 before the end of the decade, highlighting its competitive cost thanks to the internalization of the manufacturing of all subsystems and the implemented recovery and reuse technology.
The flight demonstration campaign of the suborbital rocket began with the public presentation held this weekend. In the company’s hangar at El Arenosillo, maintenance and preparation work for the launch will be carried out, including pressure tests and propellant loading. Subsequently, the rocket will be assembled on the pad and transported to the nearby launch base at Médano del Loro.
One of the most critical tests on the flight platform will be the full propellant loading test, including all stages before engine ignition. Following this, the static fire test will be carried out, where the rocket engine will be ignited for five seconds, and the formal flight review will be finalized. Before launch, the payload will be integrated into the rocket’s fairing, carrying an experiment from the German Center for Applied Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), belonging to the University of Bremen.
During April and May, PLD Space has different flight windows for Miura 1, granted by the Spanish Ministry of Defense. The launch will depend on both the availability of the rocket and meteorological conditions, including a surface wind speed of less than 20 km/h, a calm atmosphere of winds at altitude, and the absence of nearby storms.
The launch procedure will last around 10 hours, and any potential risk detected during that time will result in the cancellation of operations for that day, starting from scratch in the next flight window. “We will always prefer to delay the flight rather than end up with a rocket in pieces,” explained Raúl Torres. The company hopes to make history for Spain and Europe with this project, although they still have everything to prove, Ezequiel Sánchez concluded.
Source: MiMub in Spanish
