PLD Space begins system-level testing of Miura 5, targets 2027 debut

PLD Space has begun system-level test campaigns on a fully integrated second stage of its Miura 5 orbital launcher. The company is also completing subsystem validation, manufacturing the first three vehicles and expanding its industrial capabilities.

The Spanish company now targets a debut flight in the first half of 2027 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The three vehicles are two qualification units and the first flight article.

Miura 5 is a two-stage, small-lift vehicle fuelled by kerosene and liquid oxygen. It stands about 35.7 metres tall with a 2-metre diameter, and uses five TEPREL-C engines on the first stage and a single vacuum-optimised TEPREL-C on the second.

The vehicle is designed to carry up to roughly one tonne to equatorial low Earth orbit or 540 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit. Partial reusability is planned for later versions. PLD Space previously flew the suborbital Miura 1 demonstrator.

Sourcenasaspaceflight.com