The Maine aerospace company says it hopes to launch the first flight of Starless Rogue from Florida but will continue to pursue long-term suborbital and orbital launch opportunities in its home state.

(March 8, 2022 – Brunswick, Maine) – bluShift Aerospace announced today that it is ending its months-long effort to secure a launch site off the town of Jonesport and is working to access flight opportunities from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“We are setting our sights on Florida for our first commercial suborbital launch to space,” said bluShift CEO and founder Sascha Deri.

The announcement comes days after bluShift conducted the long-awaited first test of its full-scale MAREVL™ 2.0 engine, which successfully reached a peak thrust of 39kN (3.9 tons) for a full 5 seconds, further elevating bluShift’s status as the first company in the world to power rocket engines with non-toxic, carbon-neutral, bio-derived fuel. Future tests will produce 80kN of thrust for 85 seconds, enough to launch their Starless Rogue sounding rocket to heights of 350-400km (220-250 miles).

Deri said the company is working at lightning speed to join a select group of much larger launch providers, including Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, to qualify as a flight provider for the NASA Flight Opportunities Program by early 2023.

Headquartered in Brunswick, Maine, bluShift Aerospace is amongst an elite minority of rocket companies in the world that has not only managed to successfully develop and launch rockets, but to do so with paying customers. With a highly qualified team of aerospace engineers, eight years of R&D, and over two hundred engine tests completed, the company is quickly moving toward completion of its next suborbital rocket, Starless Rogue, which is on track to take flight in 2022. Its orbital rocket, Red Dwarf, will follow with delivery of small satellites to polar orbit.

“Our team is passionate about demonstrating that aerospace can be conducted in a sustainable, Earth-friendly manner,” said Deri. “Last week’s successful engine test shows that bluShift’s team of engineers is not only gifted and capable, but in a league with the world’s foremost aerospace engineers.” Deri said his company is quickly moving toward another series of engine tests over the next several days and hopes to head to Florida for the maiden launch.

Rapid Industry Growth & Qualifying for NASA Program

bluShift’s unique business model seeks to make space accessible by offering cost-effective and convenient payload opportunities to civil, academic, and commercial customers. “There’s a buildup of potential customers who are having enormous difficulty getting launched as secondary payloads with the big aerospace players,” said Deri. “bluShift is nimble and ready to start servicing those customers as early as this year.”

bluShift continues to work toward a suborbital launch before the end of Q3 2022 in order to qualify for NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, which facilitates the purchase of commercial suborbital flight services to test and demonstrate promising space-based technologies. Awardees receive a grant or enter into a cost-share agreement, through which they can select a commercial flight provider that meets their needs. Deri says bluShift plans to qualify for 2023.

The rocket launch industry has been quickly expanding and growth is expected to intensify over the next decade. In 2021 there were 135 rocket launches worldwide, up from 104 in 2020. The problem is that rocket fuels are generally toxic, carbon-intensive, and harmful to the atmosphere. BluShift offers an Earth-friendly service to customers who value sustainability, near carbon neutrality, and nimbleness.

Finding a launch site in Maine

Deri noted that his search for a Maine launch site is far from over. “As we prepare for  this critical next flight in Florida, we will continue efforts to find a Maine community or township that wants to welcome as many as 200 new jobs and the distinction that will come from hosting a green aerospace company,” said Deri. “Jonesport presented many unforeseen challenges, particularly when it came to the flow of accurate information. The good news is that we learned a lot about what it will take to work in harmony with a Maine community, whether it be on the Downeast coast or in northern Maine. Even though Jonesport didn’t work out, we have already been contacted by town leaders in Northern Maine and other coastal communities inviting us to bring the opportunity to their town.”

Deri added that he feels confident bluShift can add significant economic and intellectual capital to a Maine community without causing environmental harm. “No matter where we launch from, bluShift will manufacture its rockets here in our home state. But we can do more good, create more jobs, and keep even more STEM grads at home and bring even more money into the state by launching our rockets here too,” he said.