The second time was not the charm. After canceling the first attempt to launch the Miura 1 due to the Huelva wind, the company PLD Spacein collaboration with the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) has canceled the launch again, just as the countdown to launch ends.
It was 2:43 a.m. when the suborbital rocket, located in the Arenosillo Experiment Station, gave the abort signal. So, the company from Alicante must wait for a new attempt to make Spain the tenth country to successfully launch its own rocket.
Once the engines were started, the failure was detected that forced the Miura 1 to be grounded once more. Thus, the personnel of the space base proceeded to secure the rocket to leave it ready for a future attempt.
Miura 1, the test of something much bigger
Actually, the Spanish Miura 1 rocket is the Miura 5 predecessora fully recoverable rocket, which will be able to ascend more than 500 kilometers and deposit 1000 kg loads in space, aimed at carrying out microgravity experiments.
Miura 1 measures alone 12 meters highwhile Miura 5 will measure 30 meters in length and 2 meters in diameter. Therefore, it can be considered almost as a practice model.
But before moving on to the Miura 5, the use of which is scheduled for 2025at least one more test will be carried out with Miura 1. The test flights are of 12 minutes, as we have seen today with this first launch of the Spanish rocket. However, it would be necessary to recover the rocket afterwards. The ships Libertad6 and Nervio would have been in charge of this, which have been in a waiting position since approximately midnight. It is expected that it will take a few 4 hours approximately to recover the rocket and then it will be time to check if it has been damaged.
almost perfectly
In the previous attempt, the launch of Miura 1 was stopped in the go no goa vote in which several components intervene: the rocket subsystems, the launch pad and the meteorological conditions. If everyone declares they are ready, the launch proceeds. In that case, it was the weather conditions that were marked in red, thus preventing the journey of this first Spanish rocket. But this time it could have been.
The launch of the Miura 1 was scheduled within a window ranging from from 1 to 10 in the morning this Saturday, June 17. However, it was not necessary to wait that long.
After loading the propellant, the last checks, the start of the telemetry recording and the autosequence, the engine ignition.
Developing