The launch of the first Spanish space rocket, the Miura 1, manufactured in Elche by the Elche company PLD Space, has been postponed due to unfavourable weather conditions. Strong Gusts of wind have forced the company to abort Monday’s takeoff moments before countdown.
At 8:29 a.m., it was announced during live Youtube screening that the was aborting takeoff due to the “unfavourable weather conditions” , with gusts of wind at altitude, between kilometre 8 and 12, which would have endangered the mission.
According to Sara Poveda, however, an employee of PLD Space, and Roberto Palacios, the systems engineer of Miura 5, the rescheduled launch will now take place in a ‘few’ days time.
An earlier wind measurement balloon launched by PLD Space showed gusts of more than 30 metres per second, exceeding the established limit. However, both the launch ramp and the rocket “are in perfect condition and the team faces the next few days even more determined,” the team announced in a statement”.
PLD Space had a launch window, authorised by the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA), which closed on May 31. Now they must request new windows to be able to launch what will be the first Spanish rocket to enter space.
The launch was initially to take place at 6:30 a.m., but due to abnormal behaviour in the main liquid oxygen reservoir of the launch platform, with the process being abnormally slow,” said Raúl Torres, but that was solved only for the weather to intervene two hours later.
