PLD Space

PLD Space, legally Payload Aerospace S.L., is a Spanish launch services company founded in 2011 in Elche, Spain, by Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú. It develops reusable launch vehicles for small satellites and suborbital research payloads, operating one of Europe's largest private rocket test facilities in Teruel.

The company built the Miura 1, a single-stage, recoverable suborbital sounding rocket that served as a technology demonstrator, and is developing Miura 5, a two-stage, partially reusable orbital launch vehicle designed to place roughly one tonne of payload into low Earth orbit using engines derived from Miura 1.

PLD Space remains active as of 2026. Its biggest achievement to date was the successful first flight of Miura 1 on 7 October 2023, widely reported as Europe's first fully private rocket launch. Miura 5 has not yet reached orbit and remains in development, with its inaugural orbital test flight targeted for 2026, backed by a large funding round raised in early 2026.