TAMPA, Fla. — As Arianespace prepares to launch its first Ariane 6 rocket in July from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana, a Spanish company is preparing to become the first non-institutional launcher to reach orbit from the base next year.
PLD Space plans to begin building launch facilities for its Miura 5 rocket in October from the Diamant site at the Guiana Space Center, said co-founder and business development director Raul Verdu. Space news.
Diamant has been inactive for decades after being used in its day for the French rocket of the same name and “in the area where we are there is nothing,” says Verdú, “everything has to be done from scratch.”
PLD Space, Germany's Isar Aerospace and a handful of other small European launchers are working with France's CNES space agency to turn the site into a multi-purpose facility.
In June, the Spanish company announced a €10 million ($11 million) investment plan for 15,765 square meters of space at Diamant, divided between a launch zone and a preparation area comprising an integration hangar, a clean room, a control center, commercial and work offices.
CNES provides common infrastructure such as roads and electricity grids.
Verdú said work is already underway to produce the Miura 5 rockets at a newly established factory near its headquarters in Alicante, Spain, although the official groundbreaking ceremony for the plant will not take place until after the summer.
According to PLD Space, nearly 70% of the 35.7-meter-long rocket's design and technology was validated during the maiden flight of Miura 1, a smaller rocket that took off on a short suborbital trip from the southern coast of Spain in October.
The standard two-stage version of the Miura 5 is designed to lift a nominal payload of up to 540 kilograms to subsynchronous orbit and up to 1,080 kg to equatorial orbit.
The first stage is also designed to be recoverable for reuse after separating from the rocket and using parachutes to slow its descent before splashdown.
Progress in financing
PLD Space has raised around €120 million from seed investors since its founding in 2011.
In July, the company signed a €31.2 million loan with local banks to accelerate development.
Unlike a venture capital financing round, debt financing from risk-averse banks does not dilute the investments of existing shareholders.
“Traditional banks don’t normally finance companies at our stage,” Verdú said, particularly those in their early stages.
Key to the financing was support from the Spanish government-backed export credit agency CESCE, which guaranteed the loan against the risk of default to support its domestic industry.
The funds will support Miura 5 factory and launch site operations, and help the company expand from 220 to 300 employees by the end of the year.
Still, PLD Space must overcome multiple technical hurdles to achieve its goal of entering commercial operations in 2026, shortly after the maiden flight of Miura 5, and ramping up to more than 30 launches annually by 2030.
Before being bogged down by technical issues and external problems (including the COVID-19 pandemic), Europe had originally planned to unveil the Ariane 6 in 2020, after beginning development work in 2014.
The 63-metre-high Ariane 6 rocket It finally reached orbit on July 9.although it experienced a problem with the power unit that allows its upper stage to reignite.
PLD Space is also planning an ambitious maiden flight for Miura 5. Verdú said that “we will try to recover part of the rocket from the first mission,” but did not give details.
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