PLD spacethe Elche company that designs, develops, produces and operates the first private launcher in Europeannounced this Tuesday through a statement that postpones the launch of the Miura 1 from the Huelva base until next September after agreement with the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), belonging to the Ministry of Defense. The decision has nothing to do with technical problems. In fact, the engineers knew that they had to attempt the launch before the month of July because of environmental issues.
Civil Guard
The postponement is motivated by the obligatory compliance of the prevention of forest fires collected in Law 43/2003 of Forestry; and Directive 03/19 of the Army Chief of Staff on ‘Actions against forest fires in the maneuvering and firing ranges and other properties exposed to the Army’, as well as the high temperatures registered in Huelva and the necessary coordination with the Civil Guard to guarantee the security of the area where the launch takes place.
0.25 seconds away from making history
PLD Space has been in Huelva for almost months and a half waiting to launch the rocket and has had two attempts, both aborted in the last few seconds. When it takes off it will position Spain as the tenth country with technology in the race space. A milestone achieved by a small company from Elche.
«After having Postponed launch to May 31st Due to the strong high-altitude winds registered in Huelva, PLD Space had to abort the launch of the Miura 1 on June 17 because one of the umbilical cables that connect the rocket with the avionics bay was released with 0.25 seconds. of delay, which happened that the next umbilical cable was not released in time, causing an automatic abort sequence that turned off the engines and stopped the launch», he explained from his communication office.
Both the rocket and the launch pad are in perfect condition.
countdown
Related news
Raúl Torres, CEO and co-founder of PLD Space, highlights: «Launching a rocket designed from scratch It is a major challenge and we successfully completed 99.9% of all the procedures prior to the launch reaching the countdown.
The entire pre-launch phase was a resounding success and we are very close to successfully launching the Europe’s first reusable rocketthat has recovery and reuse requirements that only 3 companies in space history have achieved.»
About Space PLD
PLD Space is a benchmark company in the aerospace sector and the first to launch a private rocket in Europe. With its headquarters in Elche, PLD Space designs, develops, manufactures and operates reusable orbital launchers that send small satellites into space that materialize in the Miura 1 suborbital and the MIURA 5 orbital.
PLD Space was founded in 2011 by Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú with the purpose of increasing the European capacity for access to space. Currently, the company -which has obtained more than 65 million in financing to date- has a staff made up of more than 120 professionals distributed in three centers located in Elche, Teruel and Huelva that add up to more than 20,000 square meters of Industrial facilities.