MIURA 1 Launch Postponed Due to Weather
The MIURA 1 SN1 Test Flight mission of the private Spanish rocket company PLD Space scheduled Wednesday morning at the INTA facilities in El Arenosillo (Huelva), was postponed due to weather conditions.
"The MIURA 5 model will be the launcher with which PLD Space expects to start its commercial activity in 2025."
Raul Torres, PLD Space
The last wind measurement balloon launched shows wind gusts of more than 30 meters per second, exceeding the established limit. Both the launchpad and the rocket are in perfect condition and a new launch date will be announced soon.
PLD Space is the first company to launch a private rocket in Europe. Headquartered in Elche (Alicante), Spain, PLD Space designs and builds the suborbital MIURA 1 rocket and the orbital MIURA 5 reusable micro launcher for small satellites.
Prior to the planned launch, the company conducted a hotfire test of the MIURA 1 engine on the launch pad, running the rocket's engine at full power for 5 seconds to check the operation of different parameters and systems of the rocket, including ignition system, temperature, and rocket pressure in a simulation environment.
MIURA 1 Test Flight Objectives
"The objective of this first flight of the MIURA 1 SN1 technology demonstrator will be to gather as much information as possible to further validate much of the design and technology that will later be transferred and integrated into MIURA 5," said Raul Torres, co-founder and CEO of PLD Space. "The MIURA 5 model will be the launcher with which PLD Space expects to start its commercial activity in 2025, and whose development phase has already started recently in the facilities that the company is currently expanding within the Teruel airport site."
"In this experimental flight, our definition of success is that the rocket should be as far away from the launch pad as possible," said PLD Space CEO Exequiel Sanchez. "We are aware that it is already an achievement for us, the industry and for all of Spain to be able to place MIURA1 on the launch pad. For every second MIURA 1 is in the air, we will be learning and gathering data for the development of MIURA 5. After 12 years, PLD Space will be the first private micro launcher company to reach this historic milestone in the European space race."
(Source: PDL Space news release. Images provided)