MIURA 5: The European and Reusable Microlauncher for Cubesats and Small Satellites

PLD Space is a European company with the goal of providing easy and frequent access to space. The company aims to provide launch services for suborbital applications such as scientific research or technology development as well as orbital launches for small satellites. For this, PLD Space is developing two dedicated, reusable launch vehicles named MIURA 1 and MIURA 5. MIURA 1 was conceived as a one-stage suborbital sounding rocket which uses a liquid propulsion system fully designed and built by PLD Space. MIURA 5 –is a two-stages launch vehicle for small satellites with also fully in-house propulsion, structures and avionics development. The maiden flight of MIURA 1 is set to take place from the historical Spanish launch site “El Arenosillo” in the south-west of Spain. From there, the rocket will fly into south-westerly direction and after a flight time of about 12.5 minutes splash down about 70 km off the coast in the Gulf of Cadiz in the Atlantic Ocean. In this first test flight, MIURA 1 will carry several payloads. Half of the total available payload capacity will be used by PLD Space. A variety of sensors will be integrated into the rocket with the intention to quantify the flight environment. The other half of the available payload mass has been made available for the scientific community and will house several scientific experiments. MIURA 5 orbital launch vehicle is proposed to be launched from Guyana Space Center, CSG, Europe's Spaceport. MIURA 5 maiden flight is proposed for Q3 2024 launching 300kg payload to LEO orbit.