BRUNSWICK, Maine (AP) – A Maine company developing a rocket to send small satellites into space passed its first major test on Sunday.
Brunswick-based BluShift Aerospace launched a 20-foot (6-meter) prototype rocket, which reached a height of just over 1,219 meters in an initial run designed to test the missile’s propulsion and control systems.
It carried a science project from Falmouth High School students measuring flight data such as barometric pressure, a special alloy tested by a New Hampshire company – and a Dutch dessert called stroopwafel, in tribute to its Amsterdam-based parent company. Launch organizers said the items were included to demonstrate the inclusion of a small charge.
Launched from the town of Limestone in northern Maine, the site of the former Loring Air Force base, the company is one of dozens racing to find affordable ways to launch so-called nanosatellites. Some of them, called Cube-Sats, can be as small as 4 inches by 4 inches.
Sascha Deri, bluShift’s chief executive officer, said the company is committed to becoming a faster, more efficient way to transport satellites into space.
“There are a lot of companies that are like freight trains to space,” said Deri. “We’re going to be the Uber to space, where we transport one, two or three loads at a profit.”
Another aspect that makes bluShift’s rocket different is the hybrid propulsion system.
It is based on a solid fuel and a liquid oxidant that passes through or around the solid fuel; The result is a simpler and more affordable system than a liquid-fueled rocket, spokesman Seth Lockman said. The fuel is a proprietary biofuel blend sourced from farms, Deri said.
“It’s a very non-toxic fuel, I like to say I can give it to one of my daughters. Nothing bad would happen to them, I swear, ”he said. So it’s not poisonous. It is CO2 neutral. “
The goal is to create a small rocket that can launch a payload of 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in low Earth orbit, more than 100 miles above Earth’s surface. Lockman said a job could be possible by 2024.
The company has spent $ 800,000 on research and development, some of which comes from NASA.
BluShift representatives said they don’t expect to be able to launch from Brunswick, where they have their headquarters, due to the population density in the area.
A test launch attempt in Limestone earlier in January was delayed due to weather. Sunday’s launch was also delayed by a few false starts, but the event’s organizers called the final 3pm launch “ perfect. ”
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Associated Press journalist Cody Jackson contributed to this report from Miami.