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Date Published: 11/10/2023

PLD Space chooses Elche for its new rocket factory

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The company recently celebrated successfully launching Spain’s first rocket into space

PLD Space chooses Elche for its new rocket factory

PLD Space, the Elche company that made history early last Saturday by launching the first Spanish rocket into space, has set the goal of creating “the most important technology company in Europe,” and the Alicante city is to be at the centre of it.

Using the vast amount of knowledge gleaned from the space exploration of the Miura 1 from Huelva, technicians are already developing future prototypes and their next plan is for the mass construction of rockets for sending payloads, such as satellites, into space.

For this latest venture, they will build a bespoke factory in Elche, most likely beside Fira Alacant (formerly the IFA).

“The nearest future involves building a larger rocket that allows satellites to be placed in orbits in that world benchmark of providing services from space,” co-founder of PLD Space Raúl Torres explained.

“The history of PLD is not just about launching a rocket, it is part of the path, but what we want is to create the most important technology company in Europe,“ Torres declared, before confirming that a second Miura I is already under development – the first was lost in the Atlantic Ocean after last weekend’s flight.

Fellow founder Raúl Verdú explained that the new Elche facility will be a “large production plant” that will put the municipality on the map as having the “largest advanced rocket factory in the world”.

“This is not a marketing comment, it is reality because we are going to mass produce rockets, which is something that only the automobile and aviation industry does and that is our intention,” he added.

Since the company headquarters will also remain in Elche, the new project should attract lots of international talent to the area.

On this point, mayor Pablo Ruz stepped in, announcing that he will begin talks with the Department of Education about starting vocational training programmes in the aerospace industry, since PLD plans to double its workforce by 2024 and keep growing in the future.

The mayor described last Saturday’s launch as a “feat” that “has taken the name of Elche to heaven”.

“We are deeply proud of what they have achieved, for having been able to launch a company of this magnitude, which has a great international impact, and above all for being able to demonstrate that Elche talent, young talent has a universal projection,” he concluded.

In other news: Alicante considers extending beach lifeguards due to longer summers

Image: Ayuntamiento de Elche

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