PLD Space

PLD Space (Propulsión y Lanzamiento al Despliegue) is a Spanish commercial launch vehicle company headquartered in Elche, Alicante, developing the Miura-1 sounding rocket and the Miura-5 small satellite orbital launch vehicle — Spain's first privately developed rockets — targeting sub-orbital research payloads and LEO small satellite deployment with planned launches from the El Arenosillo rocket range in Huelva and European spaceports. Miura-1 successfully completed its first flight in May 2023 (a sounding rocket reaching 46 km altitude), establishing PLD Space as the first Spanish company to reach space with a commercial vehicle, while Miura-5 is the company's 2-stage orbital launcher targeting a 300 kg payload to SSO and a planned first orbital launch in the coming years. PLD Space has raised significant European venture funding and received support from ESA's commercial space initiative, targeting European institutional and commercial small satellite operators requiring dedicated orbital access on a Spanish-European launch vehicle.