MIURA 1 | The heat and the risk of forest fires leave the PLD Space rocket on the ground until September

The high temperatures, compliance with current fire prevention regulations and coordination with the Civil Guard to guarantee the security zone, keys to the new dates

PLD Spacethe Elche company that designs, develops, produces and operates the first private launcher in Europehas announced this Tuesday through a statement that postpones the launch of the Miura 1 from the Huelva base until next September after agreement with the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), belonging to the Ministry of Defense. The decision has nothing to do with technical problems. In fact, the engineers knew that they had to attempt the launch before the month of July because of environmental issues.

Civil Guard

The postponement is motivated by the obligatory compliance of the prevention of forest fires collected in Law 43/2003 of Forests; and Directive 03/19 of the Army Chief of Staff on ‘Actions against forest fires in the maneuvering and firing ranges and other properties assigned to the Army’, as well as the high temperatures recorded in Huelva and the necessary coordination with the Civil Guard to guarantee the security of the area where the launch takes place.

0.25 seconds away from making history

PLD Space has been in Huelva for almost a month and a half waiting to launch the rocket and has had two attempts, both aborted in the last few seconds. When it takes off it will position Spain as the tenth country with technology in the race space. A milestone achieved by a small company from Elche.

“After having Postponed launch to May 31st Due to the strong high-altitude winds registered in Huelva, PLD Space had to abort the launch of the Miura 1 on June 17 because one of the umbilical cables that connect the rocket with the avionics bay was released with 0.25 seconds. of delay, which caused the next umbilical cable not to be released in time, causing an automatic abort sequence that turned off the engines and stopped the launch,” he explained from his communication office.

Both the rocket and the launch pad are in perfect condition.

Countdown

Raúl Torres, CEO and co-founder of PLD Space, highlights: “Launching a rocket designed from scratch It is a major challenge and we successfully complete 99.9% of all the procedures prior to the launch reaching the countdown.

The entire pre-launch phase was a resounding success and we are very close to successfully launching the Europe’s first reusable rocketwhich has recovery and reuse requirements that only 3 companies in space history have achieved.”