PLD Space unveils Miura 9, a reusable rocket backed by a €158.9m ESA contract

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PLD Space, the Elche rocket company, presented the Miura 9 on Thursday at its headquarters. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was there, along with Science Minister Diana Morant and government delegate Pilar Bernabé. The visit coincided with the company's 15th anniversary. Executive chairman Ezequiel Sánchez described the rocket as an evolution of the Miura 5, meant to help Spain "lead European access to space". The Miura 9 is also the commercial name under which PLD Space bid for the European Space Agency's European Launcher Challenge, which it recently won with a contract worth €158.9 million. So the rocket arrived with its funding already arranged.

The Miura 9 began life as the Miura 5 Block 1.2. Once the design grew to nine engines and a wider body, it got a new name, taken from the number of first-stage engines. SpaceX named the Falcon 9 the same way. It is a two-stage rocket, 42 metres tall and 3 metres wide, against 35.7 by 2 metres for the Miura 5. Its first stage runs on nine kerolox Teprel engines and its second stage on one. It is designed to put 1,500 kg into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit, against 540 kg for the Miura 5 Block 1.0. Its first stage lands under its own power so it can fly again. PLD Space aims at medium-sized European satellites and constellations, and expects to finish the rocket before 2028. What it learns will feed into the larger Miura Next family.

The Miura 5, meanwhile, is built and waiting for its first flight from Kourou in French Guiana, planned for the first half of 2027. The company employs 550 people and works with about 500 supplier firms. Morant said nobody was laid off once the Miura 5 was finished, because there is more work ahead. She also noted that the government is a shareholder in the company.