Rocket startup PLD Space said Jan. 9 that it has raised the money it needs to continue development of its Arion 1 reusable suborbital launch vehicle thanks to a $7.1 million investment round led by rocket supplier GMV satellite ground systems from Madrid, Spain.
Arion 1 is a kerosene-fueled single-stage rocket, designed to use a combination of parachutes and propulsion to land after lifting its 200-kilogram payload on a 250-kilometer suborbital trajectory. PLD is positioning Arion 1 as a commercial suborbital launcher and technology demonstrator for Arion 2, a three-stage small satellite launcher designed to transport up to 150 kilograms to low Earth orbits between 400 and 1,200 kilometers.
The first launch of Arion 1 is planned for 2018 and Arion 2 will follow in 2020. PLD Space plans to charge between $30,000 and $35,000 per kilogram for orbital launches, or approximately $4.75 million to $5.5 million per launch.
GMV was the largest investor in PLD Space’s latest financing round, contributing around €3 million ($3.2 million) of the €6.7 million the company raised in Series A1 shares. A combination of public and private investors, including the European Commission, the Center for Technological and Industrial Development of Spain, CDTI, and the Co-Investment Fund for Startups of Spain, ENISA, provided the remaining €3.7 million, said PLD Space co-founder and CEO Raúl Torres. Space News. PLD Space will use the investment to “begin full development of ARION 1 and all facilities necessary for its manufacturing, integration, testing and launch,” according to its press release.
The CEO of GMV, Jesús B. Serrano, will become part of the board of directors of PLD Space. Torres said GMV’s stake in the company will be less than 15 percent, but he did not want to give a specific figure.
GMV’s main space business is the supply of ground control systems for commercial telecommunications satellites and European institutional projects. But the company, whose 2015 revenue exceeded €125 million, has also been involved in launcher programs, including Arianespace’s Vega small satellite launcher and the European Space Agency’s experimental IXV reentry vehicle. In addition to participating in PLD Space, GMV will develop the avionics subsystems of Arion 1 and Arion 2.
Founded in 2011, PLD Space closed an investment round of approximately $1.6 million in 2013, and last year earned $1.56 million through the Spanish Reusable Space Propulsion Technology for Launchers, or TEPREL, program. , plus around $800,000 through the European Space Agency’s Future Launcher Preparatory Programme.
PLD Space plans to move this year from the Miguel Hernández University Science Park to a new plant in Elche, a city on the southeast coast of Spain. PLD Space also plans to install new engine test benches about three hours away at the Teruel general aviation airport, where the company currently conducts its propulsion tests.
The maiden flight of Arion 1 will take place in El Arenosillo, a launch site in southwestern Spain for sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons. GMV will support PLD Space in integration, qualification and launch support operations, both for test and commercial flights.
