PLD Space has a detailed plan to become the European rocket factory. And the pieces have started fitting

With Miura 1, PLD Space became the first private company in Europe to successfully launch a suborbital rocket. Since then, the Spanish company has stepped on the accelerator with a project in mind: launching Miura 5 in 2026. Today the first orbital rocket in Spain is not a project, but a tangible reality that is being assembled in Elche. PLD Space It has already manufactured All its components and prepares to start your engines for the first time.

The Treprel-C roars in Teruel. A rocket is, in essence, an engine with a large fuel tank. Miura 5 will have five Treprel-C engines fed by turbobomba in its first stage, generating a combined thrust of 950 kN, 30 times more than Miura 1.

The development of the most important component of the rocket advances to counterreloj. The company already tested in its test banks of Teruel’s airport combustion cameras, validating manufacturing technologies such as copper and nickel electrode. The turbobombs, the largest developed by a European startup, They were also tested with a complete ignition before its final integration into the engine.

Elements such as gas generators and cryogenic valves were designed, manufactured and tested internally following the lessons learned during the development of MIURA 1. A process that has culminated with the start of the engine series manufacturing: there are already four engines of the Teprel-C family in production for the final qualification campaign.

Aluminum plates have gained shape. Parallel to the development of engines, the construction of the rocket structure itself advances at a good pace. In a recent videoThe company details how its Elche factory has been working on the molding and the test of the metal structures (the fuel tanks) and of composite materials (the separation module between stages and the cofia that will protect the satellites of the customers).

These components have already undergone all kinds: tests at room temperature, cryogenic, and with compression and flexion loads to ensure that the structure will support the brutal conditions of the launch. The idea is to refine the design with the results of the prototypes to maximize their performance. After validating the engineering models, PLD Space is now manufacturing the final qualification components, the step prior to the series production of Miura 5.

The launch ramp is running. The company signed a development contract With the French Space Agency (CNES) to build its own launch complex in the European Space Port of Kouroou, in the French Guiana. The civil works will begin this summer in the same place where France launched its first rocket, the Elm-Diamant.

The location is unbeatable: its proximity to Ecuador will allow optimizing the trajectories of Miura 5 and launching heavier loads with less fuel. But PLD Space does not conform and has also signed an agreement with Oman to build a Second launch base In the Etlaq Space Puerto. This movement will give direct access to the Mercado de Oriente.

A plan to be the European rocket factory. At the same time that Miura 5 develops, PLD Space is raising an industrial complex to manufacture it in series. The company has designed a plan to climb its production to 32 units per year by 2030.

This industrial effort is based on a supply chain of almost 400 partners, mostly Spanish and Europeans, which has invested 50 million euros Since the beginning of 2024. PLD Space has chained a series of crucial milestones that draw a very clear and ambitious roadmap, as European confidence demonstrates.

Back of the European Space Agency. PLD Space is already officially one of the five companies preselected by ESA to guarantee sovereign access to space in Europe. The European Launcher Challenge has awarded contracts of up to 169 million euros to the five companies, among which are the French Maiaspace, the British Orbex and the Germans Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg.

PLD Space has proposed to Miura 5 as its immediate operating pitcher already His future heavy and reusable rocket, the Miura Nextlike the next step. The ESA final decision will be taken in November 2025, but the pre -selection already positions the Spanish company as a key actor and an industrial leader in the European launch sector.

Image | PLD Space

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