Spanish company PLD Space launched its recoverable Miura-1 rocket on Saturday from a site in southwest Spain, carrying out Europe's first fully private rocket launch.
It is a huge boost for the region's stalled space ambitions with the startup's test nighttime launch from Huelva blasting off after two failed previous attempts.
The Miura-1 rocket, named after a breed of fighting bull, is as tall as a three-story building and has a 100-kg (220-pound) cargo capacity.
The launch carries a payload for test purposes, but this will not be released, the company said.
"My voice is shot after so much shouting," said Raul Torres, CEO of PLD Space. He added that all rocket systems worked "perfectly" and the company would now focus on tripling its workforce. "This is just the beginning," Torres said.
Spain's acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on social media: "The launch of the Miura 1, the first rocket with 100 percent Spanish technology, has been a success. A milestone that positions Spain's research and development at the forefront of space transportation."
The flight lasted 306 seconds. However, its maximum height of 46 kilometers was barely half the altitude its mission planners had hoped for, according to space.com. The partly reusable launcher landed in the Atlantic Ocean and the company will recover it later this weekend.
A first attempt to launch the Miura-1 rocket in May was abandoned because of winds. A second attempt in June failed when umbilical cables did not all release in time.
Lift-off for PLD Space's first suborbital reusable rocket launch from El Arenosillo military facility in Huelva. /PLD Space/Reuters
Stuttering in Europe
Europe's efforts to develop capabilities to send small satellites into space are in focus after a failed orbital rocket launch by Virgin Orbit from the UK in January.
That system involved releasing the launcher from a converted Boeing 747. Competitors lining up to join the race to launch small payloads include companies in Scotland, Sweden and Germany.
Stefania Paladini, professor in business analytics at Edinburgh's Queen Margaret University, told CGTN Europe: "It's difficult to overstate the importance because it really is a breakthrough for Europe, especially in a moment that's so difficult because we are almost out of autonomous European launching capabilities.
"The Ariane 5 has been retired, we don't have any longer access to the Soyuz for political reasons and Vega-C is still in not active development because there was an accident last year.
"It's really a difficult moment for Europe and so it's very important to start developing new private launchers with reusable capabilities."
Saturday's mission on the Miura-1 demonstrator was the first of two scheduled suborbital missions. However, analysts say the most critical test will be the development of orbital services on the larger Miura-5, planned for 2025.
READ MORE
Swiss Alps loses 10% of glaciers in two years
1,600 species under threat in the UK
The small rocket launch took place under the shadow of recent disruption to Europe's mainstream space activities. In July, the last launch of Europe's largest rocket, the premier Ariane 5 space launcher, took place at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Europe has until recently depended on Ariane 5 and its 11-ton-plus capacity for heavy missions, as well as Russia's Soyuz launcher for medium payloads and Italy's Vega, which is also launched from Kourou, for small ones.
The end of Ariane 5 has left Europe with virtually no autonomous access to space until its successor, Ariane 6, is launched. The European Space Agency said last week that Vega-C would not return to service until the fourth quarter of 2024, following a failed mission last December.
With Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and X's Elon Musk (Space-X) both in full swing in the space race, it would seem private investment is ramping up rocket launch capabilities.
"The private sector is changing the rules of the game because since Space-X entered the market the cost to launch a payload in orbit has collapsed by a figure of 10 times from several thousand dollars," Paladini added. "The private sector is definitely changing space."
Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday