Spain’s PLD Space presents next gen family of large rockets, space capsule

Spanish private space company PLD Space has presented an update on the state of its MIURA 5 launch system program, as well as sharing some insights about its ambitious growth plans for the coming years. These include the development of MIURA Next, a family of large reusable launchers potentially capable of carrying payloads to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private manned capsule in Europe, called LINCE. 

At an event held on October 7, 2024, at the firm’s headquarters in the city of Elx, in southeastern Spain, PLD Space’s founders explained that the company has applied many of the lessons learnt from the launch of its MIURA 1 rocket which it flight-tested in October 2023. In this regard, MIURA 5 will feature PLD Space’s proprietary TEPREL-C liquid fuel engine, as well as an upgraded re-entry and recovery system.  

The MIURA 5 rocket is expected to launch from Kourou, in French Guiana, in the second half of 2025, before going on to perform its first commercial missions in 2026. 

Generating perhaps the most interest among the event’s audience, though, was the unveiling of a number of far-reaching projects for the years ahead. 

PLD Space CEO and co-founder, Raúl Torres, explained that the startup is developing a whole new family of large launchers, which will be called MIURA Next. This will come in three different sizes: MIURA Next, MIURA Next Heavy and MIURA Next Super Heavy. 

The first of these is expected to be ready for flight testing in 2030. The largest of the family, the MIURA Next Super Heavy, will be able to carry payloads into orbit of up to 50 tons. It will come in both recoverable and expandable, single-use versions, and will even be able to deliver cargoes to the Moon and, potentially, to Mars.  

Payloads in such long-range missions will range between 16 and 13 tons, depending on whether the mission is to the Moon or Mars, respectively. The payload will be significantly lower in the recoverable version, namely 3.6 tons to the Moon and 2.4 tons to Mars. 

PLS Space is also working on what the company claims will be the first manned capsule developed by a private company in Europe. The 8m3 capsule will be able to take people to space and return them safely to Earth. PLD Space expects to start testing the LINCE capsule already in 2025, with a view to conducting its first unmanned test flight in 2028, launched by a MIURA 5 rocket.  

The first tests for LINCE are scheduled to begin in 2025, with its first unmanned test flight with MIURA 5 to be conducted in 2028, launching from the European spaceport CSG in French Guiana, with the aim of achieving the first orbital flight in 2030. “We are confident that we are building a company with the strength and solvency to meet the challenge of providing full access to space,” CEO Ezequiel Sanchez concluded. 

PLD Space provided also an update on its industrial plans, regarding the firm’s new facility in Elx. As soon as 2025, the plant should have the capacity to produce up to six MIURA 5 launchers and 60 TEPREL-C per year. 

PLD Space gets €40.5 million to develop Spain’s first commercial space rocket 

SpaceByMiquel Ros

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