PLD Space has secured one €11 million loan to finance the development of a launch site for the partially reusable Miura 5 rocket, which is set to become Europe's first privately developed satellite launch vehicle – unless one of its competitors gets there first.
The loan will help the Spanish startup build the launch facility, located at Europe's main spaceport in French Guiana, with a total cost estimated at around 16 million euros.
PLD room launched its first, smaller rocketMiura 1, from Spain last year. However, for a larger orbital rocket like Miura 5, the company needs a facility with specific capabilities. This includes a large launch pad, a comprehensive mission control center and access to a geographically optimal location for orbital orbits.
PLD Space plans to conduct test and flight campaigns for MIURA 5 from the site. The rocket's maiden flight is scheduled for the end of 2025.
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Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú, classmates at the university, founded PLD Space in 2011 with the vision of creating something like a European version of Elon Musk's SpaceX. The company now employs over 250 people. It has increased €170 million in funding so far.
The company's ambitions go beyond MIURA 5. Further development is planned Miura Next, a family of reusable heavy-lift rockets in the 2030s and beyond line Capsule, Europe's first private manned spacecraft.
Europe's space race is gaining momentum
Morgan Stanley predicts this Space The economy will grow from €355 billion in 2020 to over €1 trillion in 2030 – and competition for the rewards is fierce.
The US remains a global leader while China emerges as a powerful challenger. Then there is Europethat lags behind historically in the space race.
With this in mind, companies like PLD Space are seen as crucial to ensuring that Europe does not become too dependent on foreign powers – and companies like SpaceX – for access to space.
PLD Space hopes to be the standard bearer of a new era of private European space travel. But it is not alone. The company faces strong competition from other startups with similar ambitions and timelines.
Two of the most promising are Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) and Isar Aerospace, both from Germany. These startups are developing partially reusable orbital launch vehicles with a similar load capacity to Miura 5 – 1000-1500 kg.
All three candidates are aiming to be the first private company to put a European-built satellite launcher into orbit.
RFA suffered a setback in August when it Rocket exploded During testing, the planned launch date was pushed back to 2025 at the earliest. Now Isar Aerospace started Hot tests of its Spectrum rocket in September, but with the year almost over, it looks like the company's original 2024 launch date forecast will be forgotten.
Whoever gets there first, one thing is certain: Europe's private space race is gathering pace. And that's good for the continent's celestial ambitions, no matter how you look at it.
