PLD Space has postponed the launch of MIURA 1 until September or later, after reaching an agreement with the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA), belonging to Spain’s Ministry of Defence.
The postponement is motivated by compliance with the prevention of forest fires as set out in Law 43/2003 on Forestry; and Directive 03/19 of the Army Chief of Staff on “Actions against forest fires in military manoeuvre areas 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 Guardia Civil to ensure the safety of the area where the launch is carried out.
After postponing the launch on May 31st due to high winds in Huelva, PLD Space had to abort the launch of MIURA 1 on June 17th as one of the umbilical cables connecting the rocket to the avionics bay was released with a 0.25 seconds delay. That meant the next umbilical cable was not released in time, prompting an automatic abort sequence that shut down the engines and halted the launch. Both the rocket and the launch ramp are in perfect condition.
“Launching a rocket designed from scratch is a major challenge and we successfully completed 99.9% of all pre-launch procedures up to the countdown. The entire pre-launch phase was a resounding success, and we are very close to successfully launching Europe’s first reusable rocket, which has recovery and reusability requirements that only three companies have achieved in space history.” — Raúl Torres, CEO and Co-Founder, PLD Space