PLD Space, a Spanish company involved in space launches for small satellites in Europe, has successfully completed the first qualification campaign of its suborbital vehicle, MIURA 1.

The company will for the first time in Europe perform a full mission test of an integrated microlauncher.

After undergoing all the tests at its technical facilities in Teruel, Spain, the rocket is ready for its first launch, scheduled for the end of 2022 from El Arenosillo in Huelva, southern Spain.

Testing prior to launch

The qualification campaign consists of a series of tests in order to ensure that all of the rocket’s subsystems are working properly. Finally, a complete combined test will be performed to verify that the vehicle is ready for flight.

Although PLD Space had already tested and validated each of the subsystems that configure the launch vehicle, it had not yet tested all of them once fully integrated.

PLD Space co-founder, CEO and launch director Raúl Torres, said: “We have collected a list of small modifications that require programmatic management, such as changing a component or updating some design that we need to improve; but nothing critical.

“With each test, we manage to evolve and improve the flight rocket.”
Subscribe to the FINN weekly newsletter