PLD Space, The Elche company that designed and manufactured the first Spanish aerospace rocket, the Miura 5, will redouble its commitment to the Teruel airport with the investment of more than five million euros to expand its facilities. There it plans to expand its facilities to carry out tests on the orbital launcher’s engines with a new investment of seven million euros. an essential step to mass produce up to 180 thrusters per year when the company operates at full capacity in 2030. Part of the investment will be financed by the aerodrome consortium, formed by the Government of Aragon and the Teruel City Council.
That will be the way in which the Miura 5, the heir to the Miura 1, that version in tests that was successfully launched for the first time on October 7 with a flight of 122 seconds, will have an Aragonese seal. It is a reusable orbital satellite launcher whose height is equivalent to that of an 11-story building with the capacity to launch loads of up to one ton. In its first version it measures 35.7 meters and two in diameter and is propelled by five rocket motors in one stage and an additional one in the second phase. The PLD Space roadmap contemplates the first launch by the end of 2025 from Kourou (French Guiana), while the start of industrial activity is expected in 2026 with the final objective of exceeding 30 annual launches in 2030.
In this way, the company that was awarded a month ago 40.5 million euros from Perte Aeroespacial will expand the plot it has at the Teruel airfield to go from 154,810 to 961,709 square meters by the end of 2024. There it will build a 5,000 square meter hangar for the integration and maintenance of the launcher and the existing test benches, which will have a storage area, rooms for cleaning elements in contact with liquid oxygen, assembly and maintenance of aviation electronic elements. Likewise, offices of 1,300 square meters will be built distributed over two floors where the operating personnel will be housed. and maintains the test benches, the development of roads between the offices, the hangar and access control, a perimeter fence of the facilities that includes an interior perimeter path and another that will serve to segregate the air zone that includes separate paths to each side of the fence to allow perimeter surveillance control.
All of this has been signed in a protocol signed today between the Teruel airport consortium (made up of the Government of Aragon and the Teruel City Council) to promote “one of the most emblematic projects” of the community, said the regional president, Jorge Azcón. “It is the most important airport for industrial use in Europe and it is an infrastructure of which we are especially proud for what it means and what it will mean for the avant-garde projects that drive the aeronautical industry,” Azcón stressed about what he considers “an example of institutional and public-private collaboration.”
“The infrastructure that we are going to visit today is unique in Europe. We are going to have the most complete test bench to test engines on the continent“said Ezequiel Sánchez, executive president of PLD Space, who has highlighted this commitment to Teruel that will translate into “skilled” jobs, both direct and indirect, although he has not ventured to release a figure. “We are a provincial company: We are from Elche, we are in Teruel and we have launched the rocket in Huelva and we are competing at a global level“Said Sánchez.
Inauguration of the IAC paint hangar
Likewise, Azcón inaugurated this Tuesday the new facility recently completed at the airport: the paint hangar. He Teruel airport consortium awarded the International Aerospace Coatings (IAC) group the development and operation of wide-body aircraft in its vicinity, through a concession contract with a duration of 25 years.
In this way, the French multinational will create 80 new jobs in the hangar, which will add to the 450 employees who already work at the aerodrome in the 180 airplanes that today fit in the Teruel fields. With the projected expansion of the PIGA, together with the new investments that are yet to come, The infrastructure will have 5.5 million square meters that can accommodate 300 aircraft.
Likewise, the Teruel airport “will double the number of jobs in the next four years, from the current 450 workers to 900 direct jobs.” and to 1,800 indirect jobs in the next four years,” President Azcón explained and then pointed out that, if “the numbers that Teruel Airport produces today are spectacular, those that are advancing us for the future are absolutely incredible.”
2024-02-27 13:31:47
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