A Spanish rocket company has signed an agreement with a Spanish energy company to develop renewable fuels for space vehicles. The agreement between PLD Space and Repsol includes both feasibility studies to replace current fuels with others produced with sustainable raw materials, as well as the design of new renewable fuels.

PLD currently uses highly refined liquid kerosene and liquid oxygen for its rocket fuel. It has been developing two reusable microlaunchers: the 12.7m Miura 1 vehicle is designed to lift 100kg to a suborbital flight of 150km altitude, while the 17.7m Miura 5 targets 900kg to low earth orbit or 450kg to a sun synchronous orbit. Miura 1 is expected to launch in late 2022, with Miura 5’s first launch expected in 2024.

A spokesperson for Repsol said, “Repsol will formulate the new fuels from renewable or recycled raw materials, specifically, from advanced biofuels made from waste as raw material or using synthetic fuels that are produced from renewable hydrogen and CO2 removed from the atmosphere. In this way, a reduction of the carbon footprint of up to 90% or even negative is achieved.

“During the first half of 2023, Repsol will start up Spain’s first advanced biofuels plant in Cartagena. It will manufacture 250,000 tons of advanced biofuels from waste. The multi-energy company is also making progress on its synthetic fuels plant in Bilbao, which will start production in the demonstration phase in 2024.

“These plants play a key role in Repsol’s goal of reaching a production capacity of 1.3 million tons of renewable fuels in 2025 and more than 2 million tons in 2030, thus leading this market in the Iberian Peninsula and moving decisively towards zero net emissions in 2050.”