PLD Space tests flight-termination system for Miura 5 debut launch next year

Three initial test and flight vehicles being built in parallel by Spanish manufacturer.
Spanish aeronautical firm PLD Space is progressing towards the launch of its Miura 5 vehicle next year, testing a safety system designed to destroy the craft in the event of a flight anomaly.

The Miura 5 is a two-stage reusable orbital rocket – about 36m (117ft) in length – intended to carry small payloads and offer a high launch frequency of 30 missions annually.

It has five TEPREL-C engines for its first stage and a single one for the second. The engine is fuelled by kerosene and liquid oxygen.

PLD says it has “successfully completed” performance testing of the Miura 5 flight-termination system.

“Using pyrotechnic devices, the test demonstrated the system’s ability to destroy the stage’s primary structure in the event of an in-flight anomaly,” it adds.

The company adds that this brings the launch vehicle “another step closer to operational readiness”.

PLD Space was founded in 2011 and is based at Elche, near Alicante.

Its initial test vehicle, the suborbital Miura 1, lifted off from the El Arenosillo experimentation centre in October 2023.

This flight lasted 306s and the vehicle reached apogee at 46km before the rocket – having deployed aerobrakes and a parachute – came down in the Atlantic.

While the intention was to recover the vehicle, it sank after the impact ruptured one of the two main tanks, and could not be located.

But PLD stated that Miura 1 provided “excellent results” for launcher development and it applied the findings to Miura 5.

Miura 5 was planned to fly in 2025, from a dedicated complex at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, but this date has shifted to the first half of 2027.

PLD is manufacturing three Miura 5 vehicles in parallel – two qualification units, which will be used for system tests, and a flight vehicle.

It says its vertical integration model ensures that the manufacturing, testing and launch operations are kept within a single organisation, and it can “directly incorporate” qualification results into the flight hardware.

“This strengthens reliability, accelerates execution and supports recurring launch operations,” it adds.

PLD has started testing of Miura 5’s fully-integrated second stage, vertically installed at its Teruel facility, which will verify subsystem interactions. The company has also undertaken stage-separation tests.

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