The Spanish Company PLD Space Preselected for a Key Programme Boosting European Space Access Sovereignty

PLD Space, an international space services company with vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing, has been preselected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to participate in the European Launcher Challenge (ELC), the largest European programme aimed at enhancing new sovereign launch capabilities on the continent.

The ESA officially launched the ELC this year, a strategic initiative that plans to award up to €169 million per company in its final phase, with a structure divided into two components: launch service contracts for ESA institutional missions between 2026 and 2030, and a technology development programme requiring an expanded capacity demonstrator before 2028. The final selection of companies will take place at the ESA Ministerial Conference, to be held in November in Bremen.

PLD Space formally submitted its proposal to the European Launcher Challenge with a plan perfectly aligned with its technological roadmap until 2030, already publicly presented on October 7, 2024, during the Beyond event, even before the ESA announced this programme. In this context, the company has proposed the MIURA 5 as the first operational element of the plan, and its future large reusable launcher, MIURA Next, as the second pillar to meet European institutional needs and ensure competitive and sustainable access to space.

The Miura programme constitutes a clear industrial driving force. With the preselection by the ESA for the ELC, the company offers a national opportunity to have a Spanish leader driving the launcher industry with a value chain composed of 397 partners, mainly anchored in national and European territory.

Moreover, the ELC exemplifies a new model of public-private collaboration in Europe, similar to what is already being developed in Spain with the Aerospace PERTE, where the Government, through the CDTI, has already awarded PLD Space €42 million for the development of the first national launcher.

"The European Launcher Challenge represents a milestone for the European space industry, but also a unique national opportunity to have a Spanish 'prime' leading the development of launchers. Our project generates direct impact across the entire value chain, mobilises the most advanced technology, and places Spain at the centre of future European space access," highlights Ezequiel Sánchez, Executive Chairman of PLD Space.

PLD Space is an international space services company with its own engineering and manufacturing. It is dedicated to transporting satellites and people to space, vertically integrating the engineering, testing, manufacturing, and operations of its reusable and sustainable rockets.

Based in Elche and founded in 2011 by Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú, PLD Space has established itself as a benchmark in the global space launcher sector. Its MIURA launcher family and its manned capsule LINCE position the company as a leader in European technological sovereignty in space transportation, covering the full range of space missions.

With a team of over 300 employees and more than 12,500 m² dedicated to advanced manufacturing, PLD Space manages facilities in Teruel (Spain), Kourou (French Guiana), and Duqm (Oman), enabling it to offer comprehensive satellite launch services and other payloads to space.