Industry Aerospace Services Orbital rocket launch Headquarters Elche Type of business Private | Products Arion 1
Arion 2 Website pldspace.com Founded 2011 | |
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Key people Raúl Torres (co-founder & CEO); Raúl Verdú (co-founder & R&DO); Eleazar González (Rocket engineer) | ||
PLD Space is a Spanish company founded in 2011 with the objective of developing low cost launch vehicles. Currently, the company is developing two models of rockets, Arion 1 and Arion 2, with suborbital and orbital capabilities for the small payloads market. The company targets CubeSats, Micro-g environment and defense technology payloads. The first commercial launch of the Arion 1 rocket is planned for 2018.
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History
PLD Space was founded in 2011, and has been funded through a series of investment rounds, with public and private sources, such as $1.56 million from Spain's TEPREL reusable launcher program and $800,000 from the ESA, both in 2016.
On July 1, 2015, the company successfully accomplished the first test of its liquid fuel engine on the test stand located at Teruel Airport, in Spain.
PLD Space secured its first commercial contract with the European Commission and DLR in December 2015, testing liquid propulsion engines for the German Aerospace Center.
In December 2015, the company was awarded by the Spanish Scientist Association for their design and development of partially recoverable prototypes for rockets.
Announced in May 2016, PLD Space are one of the partners in the Small Innovative Launcher for Europe (SMILE) programme, a European Union Horizon 2020 project.
In October 2016, The European Space Agency (ESA) selected PLD Space as the primary contractor for the "Liquid Propulsion Stage Recovery" program (LPSR) for the development of a first reusable stage with a prospected funding of 750.000 €. The main objective is provide the Arion 2 with a reusable stage with parachute(s) for returning (although the use of other alternatives is being studied, with controllable paraglider or de use of an inflatable parachute). The system will be tested on an Arion 1 rocket.
In January 2017, the company secured $7.1 million in that investment round, with $3.2 million of that contributed by GMV.
Arion 1
Arion 1 was originally proposed as a two-stage rocket capable of achieving suborbital flight. It was originally planned to be 12m long, with a capacity of 250 kg (551 lb). The engines were to use liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellants.
The final design is smaller, a single stage with a capacity of 200 kg (440 lb). The motor will be the Neton 1 of 30 kN fed by kerolox. PLD Space hopes to test this new model of engine by 2016, and if no mishaps occur, the first launch of Arion 1 for suborbital testing is planned for March 2018 from the facilities located at El Arenosillo (CEDEA), Huelva. The first commercial launch is planned for September of the same year. Arion 1 is slated to be capable of launching payloads of 200kg to a 250km height, experiencing up to 7 minutes of microgravity.
Arion 2
Arion 2 is a three-stage rocket capable of inserting its payload in a LEO insertion orbit. It is an evolved version of the Arion 1, with a mass of 7000 kg and a length of 18 meters, with the ability to reach a 250 km orbit. The mass of the payload is between 50 and 150 kg (330 lb) and the first launch for Arion 2 is scheduled for February 2020. During the same year, the first commercial launch will also take place, with a satellite of 50 kg (110 lb) and four CubeSats, funded by different universities. First lunar launch is planned for sometime around 2023. The company is planning to situate the future launching platform of the rocket Arion 2 on the Canary Islands. Canary Islands, to orbital inclinations of between 116° and 140°.