PLD SPACE signs a MOU with WISeKey to launch ultra-secure satellites with MIURA 5

PLD SPACE signs a MOU with WISeKey to launch ultra-secure satellites with MIURA 5
by Staff Writers
Elche, Spain (SPX) Sep 15, 2023

PLD Space, the company that designs, develops, manufactures and operates Europe's first private launcher, signs an agreement with WISeSat.Space, a subsidiary of WISeKey International Holding Ltd., the global leader in cybersecurity, AI, Blockchain and IoT, to launch the next generation of ultra-secure sub-500 kg satellites for Quantum-Ready Internet of Things (IoT) communications with the MIURA 5 orbital launcher.

The agreement aims to integrate the VaultIC408 secure element into every network endpoint, ensuring world-class levels of security across the IoT ecosystem. The goal of this agreement, focused on advanced miniaturization techniques, is to offer cost-effective and accessible solutions that enable access to the space for companies and institutions of all sizes. In this sense, this alliance is a further demonstration of the growing global demand for space access services that validate the proposition offered by PLD Space.

Thanks to the joint efforts of SEALSQ and WISeSat, the next generation of satellites will incorporate revolutionary post-quantum solutions. The microchips and devices, designed to withstand the evolution of computing power, are suitable for a multitude of applications, including multi-factor authentication devices, to ensure absolute data security in the quantum era.

90% of PLD Space, focused on the design and development of MIURA 5

Despite the imminent launch of MIURA 1, the first private rocket developed in Europe and the only one ready to be launched soon in the continent, the company is already focused on the design and development of the MIURA 5 orbital rocket, scheduled for launch in 2025 from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

In order to advance its development, PLD Space is carrying out a thorough expansion of the company's equipment and industrial capacity in Elche. Specifically, the industrial facilities will be expanded from the current 2,600 m2 to more than 12,000 m2. The company currently has a team of more than 150 employees and plans to incorporate 50 professionals by the end of the year and to reach 300 employees by 2024.

The company is currently immersed in the launch campaign of MIURA 1, whose launch windows are already being negotiated with INTA for the coming weeks. MIURA 1 has been fully designed by PLD Space as a technology demonstrator with recovery and reusability requirements that have only been achieved by 3 companies in space history.

This first suborbital flight of MIURA 1 is a turning point for the development of the MIURA 5 orbital launcher, as it will allow the extraction of a large volume of information to validate up to 70% of the design and technology that will later be transferred and integrated in MIURA 5.