Iterative Engineering

What happens after a historic first flight?
For PLD Space, the answer is: build a real launch business.

In October 2023, the Spanish company made history when MIURA 1 became the first fully private European rocket to reach space. That flight was a milestone – but the bigger challenge starts now.

PLD Space is now working toward MIURA 5, a two-stage orbital launcher designed for small payloads, with first-stage recovery as part of the vision. And the company is not slowing down:

* €180 million Series C announced on March 4, 2026
* Mitsubishi Electric joined the round and secured priority access to MIURA 5
* First commercial MIURA 5 contract signed with Sateliot
* First test flight still targeted for 2026
* Launch infrastructure in French Guiana remains part of the roadmap.

This is the kind of story that reveals a great deal about Europe’s launch sector right now: not just ambition, but the effort to convert momentum into long-term capability.

We’ve also published a broader guide to Europe’s new spaceports and launch ecosystem on our blog. You’ll find the link in the comments.

Which European launcher company are you watching most closely right now – PLD Space, Isar Aerospace, Skyrora, MaiaSpace, or someone else?

Image credit: PLD Space

Not every spaceport starts from scratch.

Far above the Arctic Circle, Esrange has spent decades doing the quiet, demanding work of space operations – launching sounding rockets, flying stratospheric balloons, testing engines, and supporting satellites through one of the world’s largest civilian ground stations.

Now, that long-built experience is turning into something bigger: orbital ambition.

Operating since 1966, Esrange in northern Sweden has already passed 600+ sounding rocket launches and 690+ stratospheric balloon missions. But what makes it especially interesting today is that it is not just a legacy site – it is actively preparing for its next chapter.

In recent weeks:
• SSC announced that the new Orbital Launch Control Center is ready
• Isar Aerospace opened a second test site at Esrange
• SSC reiterated that Firefly Aerospace is preparing for future orbital launches there
• REXUS 35 and 36 are already on the March schedule

Esrange shows that a spaceport can be much more than a launch pad. It can be an entire operational ecosystem – one built over decades, now moving toward small satellite launches to polar orbits.

We mapped the wider landscape of Europe’s spaceports in one guide on the Iterative Engineering blog – link in the first comment.

Which European spaceport should we cover next?



Photo: SSC Space & ArianeGroup. Map: Datawrapper. © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Payload Preparations: the part of spaceflight you never see

Before a satellite becomes a headline, it has to survive a world of quiet, high-stakes precision.

Imagine a “door” the size of a small industrial hall. Sealed transfers through controlled zones. Tight access windows. Constant monitoring. And a simple rule: “almost ready” isn’t an option.

At the Guiana Space Centre, this hidden work is what protects the mission long before the rocket ever leaves the pad.

We’ve seen parts of this world up close – through campaign-operations project work and a visit to Kourou – and we wrote a story that breaks it down in plain language.

Find the link to the full article in the first comment.
If you could ask one question about “what happens before launch,” what would it be?

Credit: CNES/ESA/Arianespace-ArianeGroup/Optique Vidéo CSG/S. Martin (2025)

Imagine a rocket countdown… in the rainforest.

Europe’s main gateway to orbit isn’t in Europe at all – it’s Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), near Kourou in French Guiana, just ~5° north of the equator. That geography matters: every kilogram of “free” orbital boost counts.

And today, that system behind the liftoff is back in the spotlight.

Mission VA267: the first-ever Arianespace flight of Ariane 64 (the four-booster configuration of Ariane 6), carrying 32 Amazon Leo satellites – part of Amazon’s LEO broadband constellation (also known as Project Kuiper).

Launch window (local time in Kourou): 13:45–14:13
(That’s 17:45–18:13 CET for Paris/Warsaw.)

What stands out about CSG is that the “headline moment” (ignition) sits on top of a massive layer of invisible work: range safety, tracking, air/sea coordination, procedures, people, discipline – the stuff that makes launches repeatable, not just spectacular.

If you want the full landscape, we published a complete guide to Europe’s spaceports – we’ll drop the link in the first comment

Question for you: which European spaceport do you think will become the next “after CSG” in strategic importance – and why?



Credits: Photo: Paweł Grzywocz. Map created with Datawrapper. © OpenStreetMap contributors.