Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

PLD Space, a Spanish space start-up, launched a recyclable Miura-1 rocket from a site in southwestern Spain in the early hours of Saturday morning local time, successfully entering a suborbit during launch tests. The private company said it was the first time an European private company had successfully launched a self-developed rocket, bringing a glimmer of hope to the stagnant local space industry.

It is reported that PLD Space conducted a night launch test of the Murat-1 rocket in Verva, Spain, in the early hours of Saturday, and two previous attempts were cancelled. The rocket, named after a bullfight, is about three stories high and has a payload of 100 kilograms.

The rocket was launched with a payload to collect data, but it was not released during its entry into suborbit.

Video from the mission control center showed that when the rocket rose into the night sky, the field engineers cheered and congratulated.

Shortly after the launch, PLD Space CEO Raul Torres (Raul Torres) said: "after shouting so many times, my voice is almost dead."

He said all rocket systems were working "perfectly", adding that the company was now focused on tripling the number of employees. "this is just the beginning," he said.

Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said in a social media post: "the launch of the Murat 1 rocket was a success, and this is the first rocket that uses Spanish technology 100%. This is a milestone that directly pushes Spain's research and development capabilities to the forefront of space transportation."

It is reported that the rocket flight lasted 306 seconds. However, it is reported that the maximum altitude of the rocket is 46 kilometers, which is only half the altitude planned by mission planners.

Some of the reusable launchers landed in the Atlantic Ocean and will be recycled later on Saturday, PLD Space said in a statement.

In May, PLD Space made its first attempt to launch the Murat-1 rocket, but was forced to give up because of high winds. In June this year, the company's second attempt to launch the rocket was still unsuccessful, the umbilical cord cables were not all disconnected on time, and the rocket emitted thick smoke and flames, causing the launch activity to be interrupted.

In January, Virgin Orbital planned to launch an orbital rocket in the UK to release the rocket from a modified Boeing 747 and ignite it, but failed. This incident has made the local launch capacity of small satellites in Europe the focus of attention.

PLD Space plans to conduct two suborbital launches of the Murat-1 rocket, and Saturday's test mission is the first. But analysts say the most critical test will be to complete the orbital mission with the larger Murat 5 rocket (Miura-5) in 2025.

PLD Space competes with competitors from Germany, France and the UK, including the Augsburg Rocket Plant (Rocket Factory Augsburg) and Isar Aerospace (Isar Aerospace).

The small rocket launch was carried out in the shadow of the successive interruption of local mainstream space launches in Europe.

In July, Europe's largest local Ariana 5 (Ariane 5) carrier rocket completed its final launch at the Kourou European Space launch site in French Guiana.

The Ariana 5 carrier rocket has a carrying capacity of more than 11 tons. Prior to this, Europe had been using Ariana 5 for large space missions, while using Russian Soyuz carrier rockets to transport medium payloads and relying on Italy's Vega launch vehicle (Vega) to carry small payloads.

With the decommissioning of the Ariana 5 carrier rocket, Europe almost lost its ability to enter space on its own before the successful launch of the Ariana 6 carrier rocket.

At present, Russia no longer allows Europe to use the Soyuz carrier rocket, the upgraded Vega-C carrier rocket is grounded for technical reasons, and the first launch of the Ariana 6 carrier rocket has been postponed until next year.

The European Space Agency said last week that the Vega-C launch vehicle would resume launch service by the fourth quarter of 2024, following a failed launch last December.

The old Vega carrier rocket is scheduled to retire after two more launches. Rocket operators say plans to launch the old Vega carrier rocket from the kuru launch site late Friday have been cancelled and will try again later Saturday.

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