Spain makes its place in the space race. In the coming weeks, it will launch the Miura 1 rocket, named after the Spanish bull race. It has been developed by the Elche company PLD Space, founded in 2011 by Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú, when they were both 23 years old. The launch comes at a time when the aerospace industry is unstoppable, with a return to the Moon on the horizon in 2024 and the announcement this week of the first woman and the first African-American man in history to visit the satelite.
The Miura 1 is as tall as a three-story building and is designed to lift payloads of 250 kilograms more than 150 kilometers high. On its first suborbital flight, which will take place before the end of May, it will carry 100 kilos of material from the German Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity to an apogee of 153 kilometers, the highest point it will reach. For security reasons, the exact launch date has not been made public, “but it will be in the coming weeks and we will broadcast the mission via streaming,” Ezequiel Sánchez, executive president of PLD Space, told this newspaper.
The Miura-1
Rocket test beds
Launch pad
Capable of loading up to 100 kg in four compartments.
Designed to house experiments in microgravity for 3-4 minutes. The entire flight takes 12 minutes.
25 kg per compartment
28V power
0.8 Mb/s data flow
16GB of storage
telemetry systems
Load distribution management
mass at takeoff
Composite Lined Helium Pressure Vessel
Cryogenic liquid oxygen tank (1,100 to -182ºC)
Kerosene tank (600 l)
TEPREL-B engine developed by PLD Space
Tested for 122 seconds (time needed for flight)
Less than 5G acceleration during climb
One of more than 100 engine tests
The system is designed to be able to be rescued after splashing down, which will make it possible to recover the devices sent into space and the launcher itself, which is reused.
Rocket test beds
Launch pad
Capable of loading 100 kg in up to four independent compartments
Designed to house experiments in microgravity for 3-4 minutes. The entire flight takes 12 minutes.
25 kg per compartment
28V power
0.8 Mb/s data flow
16GB of storage
telemetry systems
Load distribution management
mass at takeoff
Composite Lined Helium Pressure Vessel
Cryogenic liquid oxygen tank (1,100 to -182ºC)
Kerosene tank (600 l)
TEPREL-B engine developed by PLD Space
Tested for 122 seconds (time needed for flight)
Less than 5G acceleration during climb
One of more than 100 engine tests
The system is designed to be able to be rescued after splashing down, which will make it possible to recover the devices sent into space and the launcher itself, which is reused.
Rocket test beds
Launch pad
Capable of loading up to 100 kg in four compartments.
independent compartments
Designed to house experiments in microgravity for 3-4 minutes. The entire flight takes 12 minutes.
25 kg per compartment
28V power
0.8 Mb/s data flow
16GB of storage
telemetry systems
Load distribution management
mass at takeoff
fuel tanks
Composite Lined Helium Pressure Vessel
Cryogenic liquid oxygen tank (1,100 to -182ºC)
Kerosene tank (600 l)
TEPREL-B engine developed by PLD Space
Tested for 122 seconds (time needed for flight)
Less than 5G acceleration during climb
One of more than 100 engine tests
The system is designed to be able to be rescued after splashing down, which will make it possible to recover the devices sent into space and the launcher itself, which is reused.
Rocket test beds
Launch pad
Capable of carrying 100 kg in up to four compartments.
independent compartments
Designed to house experiments in microgravity for 3-4 minutes. The entire flight takes 12 minutes.
25 kg per compartment
28V power
0.8 Mb/s data flow
16GB of storage
Load distribution management
mass at takeoff
fuel tanks
Composite Lined Helium Pressure Vessel
Cryogenic liquid oxygen tank (1,100 to -182ºC)
Kerosene tank (600 l)
The system is designed to be able to be rescued after splashing down, which will make it possible to recover the devices sent into space and the launcher itself, which is reused.
TEPREL-B engine developed by PLD Space
(Spanish Reusable Space Propulsion Technology for Launchers)
Tested for 122 seconds (time needed for flight)
Less than 5G acceleration during climb
One of more than 100 engine tests
The most critical moments of the mission will be the first 30 seconds, which is “when the rocket has to assume an orientation of 80 degrees to start the parabolic flight.” Upon its return, the launcher will reach a speed of 2,700 kilometers per hour and will be slowed down with a parachute that will cushion its impact in the ocean. Afterwards, the vehicle will be recovered by ship. «To date, of the sixty rockets that have been developed in the world, only two companies have made them reusable: Space X and Blue Origin. Our rocket was designed that way from the start. From Miura 1, 60% of its components can be recovered”, celebrates Sánchez.
This differential feature complicates the design, manufacture and operation of the rocket itself, but it also saves costs. For example, “it’s important to be able to reuse motors, because they come at a huge cost. However, there are electronic components that cannot be reused, because when they come into contact with seawater, the salt corrodes them”, explains the executive president of the firm.
«The main challenges of this project are three: finding financing, developing the technology and accessing talent»
ezekiel sanchez
Executive Chairman of PLD Space
Miura 1 is currently powered by conventional fossil fuel, very similar to that used in commercial aviation, but PLD Space has already signed an agreement with Repsol to develop a sustainable alternative. Its forecast is to start using it from 2025.
a bigger rocket
Last September, the ‘Miura 1’ passed a full qualification test at the PLD Space technical facilities in Teruel, a test that simulates all the conditions of a real launch, but without the rocket actually flying, and check if it’s ready. “Now we have to get it to fly and recover the telemetry information, that is, what its behavior has been both in the upward flight, as well as in the development of the microgravity experiments, and in the reentry and landing in the ocean. These data will allow us to provide feedback to the system in order to improve its performance”, explains Sánchez.
This first mission will test 70% of the technologies that will later be implemented on a larger orbital rocket, the Miura 5, on which the PLD Space team is working in parallel. The idea is that the latter apply what has been learned with Miura 1 and launch it into space at the end of 2024, from Kourou, in French Guiana.
Miura 5 will be 34.4 meters long and will allow around 540 kilograms to be placed in low Earth orbit. “Currently, we have 50% of the human team working full-time on this new rocket and a third of its design has already been completed”, advances Sánchez.
Among the main challenges of this ambitious project, Sánchez lists three: finding financing, developing technology and accessing talent. To date, PLD Space has achieved more than 60 million euros of investment, mainly from private investors, but also from public ones; and expects to reach a turnover of up to 150 million euros per year. Regarding the development of technology, “humans have been in space for 50 years, but it is still very difficult to access it competitively, in terms of prices and level of security,” declared the executive president. For their part, they plan to end the year with a team of 200 workers (now there are 120 employees).
Spain accelerates in its space race
In November 2022, two Spanish astronauts became part of the European Space Agency (ESA); On March 7, the Government approved the creation of the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), which is expected to be operational in three months and; Before the end of May, the Spanish Miura 1 rocket, the first reusable in Europe, will make its first flight. The success of the latter will place our country among the small number of territories (it will be the tenth) capable of sending small satellites into space.
#High #floors #reusable #Spanish #Miura #rocket