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Satnews Daily
June 18th, 2018

European Sub-Orbital Flight Opportunities is the Goal of an MoU Between PLD Space and Telespazio VEGA


PLD Space and the German space company Telespazio VEGA Deutschland have signed an MoU to provide suborbital flight opportunities from Europe on-board the suborbital rocket ARION 1, which is under development by PLD Space.

For several years, a new spaceflight industry has been growing to exploit high flight frequency and relatively low-cost markets. Among the companies leading such initiatives are PLD Space and Telespazio VEGA Deutschland. Both companies are pioneering efforts to provide the first private suborbital launch service in Europe by 2019.


Artistic rendition of PLD Space's ARION 1 suborbital rocket.

Image is courtesy of PLD Space.

Historically, access to suborbital space platforms that provide high quality microgravity environments in Europe has been limited, costly, and bureaucratic. Nowadays, it is only possible to achieve this through institutional programs, which can be time consuming as well as limited in the number of launch opportunities; usually offering one or two launches per year.

Both scientific and commercial domains can greatly benefit from performing research & development in microgravity conditions, which subsequently boosts European technology and innovation. PLD Space and Telespazio VEGA understand this need, and want to change the way suborbital flight opportunities are provided in Europe to better serve this community.

Raúl Torres, CEO and Co-founder of PLD Space, said that this commercial agreement between PLD Space and Telespazio VEGA is, without a doubt, an important milestone for the suborbital sector in Europe as well as a big step forward to provide suborbital access to space in a commercial manner.