• The company signs a MOU with WISeSat.Space for the launch of the next generation of ultra-secure sub-500 kg picosatellites for Quantum-Ready Internet of Things (IoT) communications with the MIURA 5 orbital launcher.
• This alliance is yet another example of the growing global demand for space access services that validate the proposal offered by PLD Space.
• PLD Space is making good progress in the design and development of MIURA 5, the first launch of which will take place in 2025 from French Guiana.
• For the development of MIURA 5, the company is tripling its current industrial capacity and will hire 150 employees by the end of 2024.

Elche. 14 September 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.

About PLD Space 

PLD Space is a leading reference in the space sector and the first to develop a private rocket in Europe. Headquartered in Elche (Spain), PLD Space designs, develops, manufactures and operates reusable orbital launchers that send satellites of less than 500 Kg into space in the form of the suborbital MIURA 1 and the orbital MIURA 5. 

PLD Space was founded in 2011 by Raúl Torres and Raúl Verdú with the aim of increasing European access to space. Currently, the company -which has obtained more than 65 million euros in funding to date- has a workforce of more than 150 professionals distributed in three centres located in Elche, Teruel and Huelva, with a total of more than 150,000 m2 of industrial facilities.  

About WISeKey

WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large-scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI, and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey microprocessors secure the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens, etc.). WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss-based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

About WISeSAT AG:

A trailblazing Space arm of WISeKey International, a global cybersecurity leader, WISeSAT AG is at the forefront of creating Ultra-Secure Picosatellite Solutions in collaboration with its ally FOSSA Systems. It champions the cause of secure IoT communication via space-based networks, harnessing the latest cryptographic innovations to guarantee safe and instantaneous data exchanges across diverse sectors, safeguarding the sanctity and privacy of the data transmitted.