The countdown begins for PLD Space to try again to launch the Miura 1 rocket, the first private spacecraft developed in Spain. The company has announced that the new takeoff attempt is scheduled for 2 a.m. on Saturday, in an event that can be followed live on YouTube from approximately one hour before T-0.
Seeing the launch in person will be somewhat more complicated. Most of the areas near the Médano del Loro launch base, at the “El Arenosillo” Experimentation Center of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), in Huelva, will have restricted access. The company has reported in a statement that the only point enabled for this purpose will be the Parador de Mazagón beach.
Despite the confirmation of the date and time, PLD Space does not rule out that the attempt may have to be postponed due to changes in weather conditions, or if technical anomalies appear that put the mission at risk. In fact, a change in the wind at altitude forced the first launch attempt to be aborted, on May 31, and a small technical problem already resolved aborted the second, on June 17.
Since then, PLD Space has been working to analyze what went wrong and make the necessary small adjustments so that, as the saying goes, third time’s the charm. On Tuesday, the company announced that the rocket had successfully passed all pre-launch tests. For the moment, just over 9 hours after takeoff, the mission is still underway as planned.
The developers of Miura 1 see the launch next morning as an opportunity to collect data that contributes to confirming and improving the design of Miura 5, the orbital launcher with which the company wants to transport small satellites starting in 2025. With this idea In mind, they consider that “every second that Miura 1 is in the air will be a second of success”, as they have reflected on their website.
The information to be collected includes checking that the engine thrust under flight conditions and the aerodynamic behavior of the rocket are working as intended. In addition, the team will validate the trajectory tracking system and analyze the spacecraft’s response to real space conditions.
If all goes well, the flight will last around 12 minutes, six of which will be spent in a practically total absence of gravitational force – the so-called microgravity. The rocket, 12.5 meters high and weighing more than 2,600 kilograms at the time of takeoff, must rise to a height of 80 kilometers, from which it will fall, slowed by parachutes, to land over the Atlantic Ocean. Two boats and a team of divers specializing in underwater operations will be waiting there to try to recover the ship, for which they will have 4 hours.
On its maiden flight, the Spanish rocket will carry an experiment from the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) to study the conditions of the practical absence of gravity. The instrument, weighing about 100 kilograms, will collect information for future tests in similar conditions.
