The Alicante-based PLD Space will operate from the European spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana

Further proof of the company's leadership

The binding agreement signed with the French Space Agency (CNES) grants the Company permission to begin the negotiation process of the development phase of the MIURA 5 launcher from the ELM-Diamant launch base at the Guiana Space Center ( CSG).

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PLD Space, the company that designs, develops, manufactures and operates the first private micro launcher of Europe, has been selected to launch its orbital launcher MIURA 5 from the European spaceport Kourou (French Guiana).

The binding agreement signed with the French Space Agency (CNES), grants the Company permission to start the negotiation process of the development phase of the MIURA 5 launcher from the launch base ELM-Diamant at the Guiana Space Center (CSG). PLD Space thus becomes one of the few private operators that will be able to operate from this historic spaceport.

Raúl Verdú, Chief Business Development Officer and co-founder of PLD SpaceHe states: “This agreement is further proof of the company’s leadership in this segment at a time when Europe needs it most, thanks to its established track record. Furthermore, it also validates PLD Space’s value proposition in the market.”

A highly demanding approval process

In 2021, CNES announced that it would make the location available ELM-Diamant for micro launchers in order to increase European space access capacity. Since then, the company has been immersed in the demanding accreditation process.

In this sense, PLD Space has been selected after having passed a rigorous technical evaluation of the MIURA 5 project that covers the analysis of issues related to the design and development logic of the rocket, launch operations, facilities, financial solidity and security. Finally, the CNES has informed PLD Space that the audit has been positively evaluated and its result has been formalized through the signing of a binding contract (Binding Term Sheet, BTS) Between the parts.

PLD Space has always chosen the CSG as the main location to launch MIURA 5 due to its experience, reliability and versatility. “It is a port in operation since 1968, where Ariane and Vega are currently launched,” highlights the co-founder and CEO of PLD Space, Raúl Torres. “In addition, it offers the possibility of sending satellites to multiple different orbits.”

 

This location is one of the most requested by PLD Space clients. Decades of experience and being able to reach any orbit are the great advantages of this spaceport

 

 

The commitments of the agreement

The signed Binding Term Sheet (BTS) commits both entities to comply with a series of conditions. On the one hand, the CNES will provide common resources for MIURA 5 launch operations, such as road access, electricity supply, fire water network or access controls to the complex. In addition, the agency will make available to PLD Space an area of ​​the CSG in which the blaunch ace of the Spanish micro launcher. 

For its part, PLD Space is responsible for the development of the specific means necessary for the integration and test and launch operations of MIURA 5 from the CSG base. In order to operate from the spaceport, it is necessary to develop a new infrastructure dedicated to the MIURA 5 launch system.

Specifically, PLD Space will have a large area divided between the launch base itself and a preparation area, which will include the integration hangar, a clean room, the control center and commercial and work offices. The CNES has already started the process related to civil works activities and PLD Space will begin the development of its own platform in 2024.

The MIURA family, key to increasing European access to space

PLD Space is immersed in the launch of the first experimental flight MIURA 1 SN1, the first private micro launcher developed in Europe, which had to be postponed on June 17 once the countdown ended due to not all the umbilical cables being released. from the avionics bay. The rocket has been completely designed by PLD Space as a technological demonstrator with recovery and reuse requirements that only 3 companies in space history have achieved.

This first suborbital flight represents a turning point for the development of the MIURA 5 microsatellite launcher, since the MIURA 1 SN1 mission will allow the validation of a large part of the design and technology that will serve as the basis for develop the MIURA 5 orbital launcher, whose inaugural flight is scheduled for 2025. The company has already started manufacturing some of its subsystems, which are already being tested in the company's 100.000 m2 test facilities at Teruel Airport.