PLD Space has renamed the launcher project formerly presented as MIURA 5 Block 1.2: its new commercial name is MIURA 9. The planned vehicle is a 42-meter, two-stage launcher intended for medium-sized satellites and constellations, with a target of up to 1,500 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The important catch is that its propulsive recovery system remains a development objective: MIURA 9 has not demonstrated flight, landing or reuse.
The MIURA 9 name change
PLD Space presented MIURA 9 as the larger evolution of the project previously known as MIURA 5 Block 1.2. The change gives the launcher a distinct identity within the company’s MIURA family, while the nearer-term MIURA 5 program remains a separate vehicle and milestone.
That distinction matters. A presentation of the renamed project is not a launch date, and MIURA 9’s proposed recovery architecture is not the same thing as an operational reusable stage.
What MIURA 9 is designed to be
PLD Space describes MIURA 9 as a two-stage launcher measuring 42 meters in height and 3 meters in diameter. Its first stage is specified with 25.5 meters of length and nine TEPREL engines. The 16.5-meter second stage uses one TEPREL Vacuum engine.
The company’s stated performance target is up to 1,500 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. That orbital condition is part of the figure: it is not an unrestricted payload number for every possible mission.
| Declared dimension | MIURA 9 |
| Vehicle architecture | Two stages |
| Height | 42 m |
| Diameter | 3 m |
| First stage | 25.5 m; 9 TEPREL engines |
| Second stage | 16.5 m; 1 TEPREL Vacuum engine |
| Target payload | Up to 1,500 kg to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit |
The figures describe PLD Space’s planned configuration and performance target. They do not amount to flight measurements, and the final launcher configuration may evolve as development continues.
Reusable in the plan, not yet in flight
MIURA 9 is presented as a launcher with propulsive reentry and landing. In practical terms, that means the first stage is intended to return under power rather than simply be discarded after ascent. PLD Space also connects the concept with lower operating costs and a higher launch cadence.
But the key milestone has not happened for this vehicle. There is no demonstrated MIURA 9 flight, controlled landing, recovered-stage inspection or second flight to point to. Calling it a reusable rocket without that distinction would turn a design objective into a product capability.
The earlier MIURA 1 program provides useful context, but not proof of MIURA 9 performance. In 2023, MIURA 1 completed a suborbital technology demonstration that included ascent and parachute descent. That vehicle was a predecessor demonstrator, and its parachute recovery cannot be transferred to MIURA 9’s planned propulsive-landing system.
The nearer-term milestone belongs to MIURA 5
The first MIURA 5 demonstration flight was planned for the first half of 2027 from Kourou. It is a separate milestone in the launcher family, not the first flight of MIURA 9.
For readers tracking the program, the useful sequence is straightforward: MIURA 5 represents the nearer-term demonstration path, while MIURA 9 is the larger launcher project whose architecture and recovery ambitions have been presented for a later stage of development.
Why the project matters in Europe
MIURA 9 fits into Europe’s effort to develop additional commercial launch capacity for satellites and constellations. PLD Space is also associated with the European Launcher Challenge, including an institutional contract context valued at €158.9 million. That figure refers to the development program context; it is not a MIURA 9 launch price or customer price.
The broader significance is industrial rather than merely visual. A launcher can have an impressive specification sheet and still face the harder work of turning engines, stages, guidance, recovery hardware and ground operations into a repeatable service. Reuse becomes meaningful only when a vehicle can launch, return, undergo refurbishment and fly again with a reliable operating rhythm.
What would count as real progress
The most revealing milestones for MIURA 9 will be practical ones:
- a completed flight of the vehicle;
- a controlled propulsive descent and landing;
- inspection and refurbishment of the recovered stage;
- a later flight using that stage again;
- evidence that the full launch-and-recovery process can be repeated.
Until then, MIURA 9 is best understood as a planned two-stage launcher with ambitious declared targets and a proposed path toward reuse. The name is new, the architecture is defined on paper, and the decisive proof will come when the vehicle leaves the drawing board and begins demonstrating those capabilities in flight.
