BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) – A Maine company developing a rocket to launch small satellites into space passed its first major test on Sunday.
Brunswick-based bluShift Aerospace launched a 20-foot (6-meter) prototype rocket and hit a height of just over 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) in a first run designed to power and test control systems of the rocket.
It presented a scientific project by Falmouth High School students that uses flight metrics such as barometer pressure, a special alloy tested by a New Hampshire company, and a Dutch dessert called syrup waffle, in a tribute to its parent company in Amsterdam. be tested. The organizers of the launch said the items were included to indicate the inclusion of a small payload.
Launched from the city of Limestone in northern Maine, the site of the former Loring Air Force Base, the company is one of dozens of races to find affordable ways to launch so-called nanosatellites. Some of them, called Cube-Sats, can be as small as 10 inches by 10 inches.
BluShift CEO Sascha Deri said the company wants to be a faster, more efficient way to transport satellites into space.
“There are a lot of companies that are like freight trains to space,” Deri said. “We’re going to be the Uber in space, where we can profitably carry one, two or three payloads.”
Another aspect that makes bluShift’s rocket different is the hybrid propulsion system.
It depends on a solid fuel and a liquid oxidant that moves through or around the solid fuel; Seth Lockman, spokeswoman, says the result is a simpler and cheaper system than a rocket that contains only liquid fuel. The fuel is a proprietary biofuel blend sourced from farms, Deri said.
‘It’s a very toxic fuel. I would like to say that I can give it to one of my daughters. “Nothing bad would happen to them, I swear,” he said. ‘So it’s very toxic. It is carbon neutral. ”
The goal is to create a small rocket that can carry a load of 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in a low earth orbit, more than 160 kilometers above the earth’s surface. Lockman said the job would be possible by 2024.
The company spent $ 800,000 on research and development, the money from which comes from NASA.
Representatives of bluShift said they did not plan to launch from Brunswick, where they are headquartered, due to the population density in the area.
An attempt to place a test launch in Limestone earlier in January has been postponed due to the weather. Sunday’s launch was also held back by some wrong starts, but the event’s organizers described the final kick – off at 3pm as ‘perfect’.
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Associated Press journalist Cody Jackson contributed to this Miami report.