BluShift Aerospace (sometimes stylized as bluShift Aerospace) is an employee-owned American
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...
firm based in
Brunswick,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. Targeting the growing
smallsat
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...
and
cubesat
A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...
launch markets, bluShift is developing suborbital
sounding rocket
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...
s and small-lift
orbital rocket
A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...
s which will be launched from a proposed new spaceport in Maine. The company has received primary funding from
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
s
SBIR
The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program is a U.S. government funding program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the ...
grant program, the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
s I-Corps grant program, the Maine Technology Institute, and the Maine Space Grant Consortium.
The company has active operations at the former
Brunswick Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station Brunswick , also known as NAS Brunswick, was a military airport located southeast of Brunswick, Maine, with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the last aircraft ( P-3 Orions) left. The ...
and
Loring Air Force Base
Loring Air Force Base was a United States Air Force installation in northeastern Maine, near Limestone and Caribou in Aroostook County. It was one of the largest bases of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command during its existence, and was t ...
.
History
bluShift Aerospace was founded on the vision of
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
s powered by a bio-derived fuel, making them safer for handlers and the environment. This new propulsion technology will allow bluShift to offer cost-competitive rideshares for small numbers of cubesats at a time, to client-preferred orbits, with low wait times to launch.
All of their vehicles currently in development will use their proprietary biofuel and liquid
nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has a ...
as propellants in a
hybrid rocket engine
A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: solid rocket propellant, one solid and the other either gas or liquid rocket propellant, liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be tr ...
, with the size and number of engines scaling for different sized rockets.
Timeline
In mid-2013, brothers Sascha and Justin Deri discovered an organic substance on Justin's farm in Maine; they began testing the substance as a potential rocket fuel. In March 2014, Sascha founded bluShift and began iteratively testing the new bio-derived solid fuel, sourced from the same organic substance found on his brother's farm.
[
In 2016, the company moved from Massachusetts to Brunswick Landing in Maine.]
In 2017, bluShift optimized its biofuel formulation with the help of a grant from the Maine Technology Institute.[
In 2019, bluShift optimized its modular ]hybrid rocket engine
A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: solid rocket propellant, one solid and the other either gas or liquid rocket propellant, liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be tr ...
with the help of a NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
SBIR
The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program is a U.S. government funding program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the ...
grant.[ State Senator ]Shenna Bellows
Shenna Lee Bellows (born March 23, 1975) is an American politician and a non-profit executive director, best known for her work with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She is the 50th Maine secretary of state. On December 2, 2020 the Mai ...
sponsored legislation to support the development of a spaceport and launch site in Maine. The company's first test launch was initially planned for 2019, but was postponed to early 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
reached Maine in March 2020, the launch was postponed further, first being scheduled for 21 October 2020.[
In 2020, bluShift concluded its engine test firing campaign, with 154 successful static fires, and attempted its first test launch. bluShift performed a low-altitude test launch of the Stardust rocket at the beginning of 2021, marking the first commercial bio-fueled rocket launch, as well as the first commercial rocket launch in ]New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
.
In March 2021, bluShift opened to public investment and funding, with a primary goal of US$500,000 and a secondary goal of US$1,070,000. As of July 2021 they had surpassed $620,000 in investments. In early September when the first round of investing closed, they had raised over $800,000. They opened a second round of investing in late 2021, and by April 2022 when that round ended, they had reached $1.1 million.
In June 2021, bluShift announced they had received their first purchase order from Virginia-based company Max IQ to launch scientific experiment payloads for universities and other research institutions. The agreement calls for up to 60 small satellites to be launched at a cadence of no less than twice per year.
In October 2021 the company began constructing the full-scale MAREVL engine and performing a series of static fire tests, preceding the launch of Starless Rogue Beta, a scaled down version of the Starless Rogue suborbital launch vehicle. The first successful static fire of the full-scale MAREVL 2.0 engine was completed in March 2022. Several more static fire tests are planned for 2022.
In December 2021, after the team had scouted out locations earlier in the year, narrowed down a list of several potential sites on the coast of Hancock County and Washington County, and following the regulatory approval process with the local governments, the launch site was announced to be about 30 miles east of Bar Harbor
Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire i ...
near the towns of Jonesport
Jonesport is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,245 at the 2020 census. Jonesport is a fishing and lobstering town. It contains the villages or hamlets of Jonesport, Mason Bay, Monsapec, and West Jonesport. ...
and Beals.
The company plans to begin launching to orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...
by early 2024. Due to Maine's high latitude, their orbital rockets will launch to high-inclination and polar orbit
A polar orbit is one in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It has an inclination of about ...
s. They also are considering Wallops LC-1 and Cape Canaveral
, image = cape canaveral.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = View of Cape Canaveral from space in 1991
, map = Florida#USA
, map_width = 300
, type =Cape
, map_caption = Location in Florida
, location ...
LC-48 as potential suborbital and low-inclination orbital launch sites, respectively, to use in the future.
Launch attempt history
MAREVL engine
All bluShift launch vehicles announced thus far will utilize and be based around the ''Modular Adaptable Rocket Engine for Vehicle Launch'' (MAREVL) engine in various configurations. This is a hybrid (solid fuel/liquid oxidizer) engine which will be scalable and modular, able to be used in clusters for different vehicle configurations.
MAREVL 2.0, the full-scale version to be used in Starless Rogue and Red Dwarf, is expected to produce of thrust and consume of propellant (both fuel and oxidizer combined) per second.
Engine testing
MAREVL prototypes were test fired at the facility in Brunswick between 2014 and 2018 along with prototype mixtures of the biofuel. A scaled-down version completed its test firing campaign in 2019, and was subsequently used on the Stardust rocket. MAREVL 2.0 is currently undergoing a testing campaign, which the engineering team expects will include more than 20 static fire tests, which are performed on a custom engine testing mount built by the company at their facility in Brunswick. The first static fire test in its campaign, a ~5-second long burn of the full-scale MAREVL 2.0 engine, was completed in March 2022.
Launch vehicles
Stardust
Stardust rockets are launched from a mobile launch stand that is horizontal during transportation, then raised to vertical at the launch site. The truss on the stand is about 3 times the height of the rocket, and has flame diverters at the base. The launch stand and associated ground equipment is powered by several mobile solar electrical power units.
Stardust 1
A single-stage reusable prototype with payload capacity that can reach maximum altitudes of up to . First successfully launched on 31 January 2021. There is a possibility of future Stardust 1 experimental launches with minor upgrades and changes.
Stardust 2
Formerly planned single-stage reusable prototype, now appears to be replaced by Starless Rogue Beta. Payload capacity would have been 30 kg. Maximum altitude was expected to have been between 10–50 km (6–30 miles).
Starless Rogue
A two-stage suborbital launch vehicle, with the first stage consisting of a cluster of MAREVL engine units, and the upper stage and payload section similar to the Stardust 2 vehicle. Will provide about 6–10 minutes of microgravity
The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...
for payloads on suborbital trajectories of up to 250 km (155 mi). The vehicle can also serve as a hypersonics
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since ind ...
testbed.
Starless Rogue Beta
A scaled down version of Starless Rogue, with only a single stage with one MAREVL engine, used for high altitude and supersonic testing. Uses the smaller payload section based on Stardust 1; regular Starless Rogue has the larger payload section based on Stardust 2.
Red Dwarf
A two-stage orbital launch vehicle with payload capacity to low Earth orbit. The focus will be on polar and Sun-synchronous orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...
orbits with an eventual biweekly launch cadence. First launch is planned for 2024.
In February 2022, bluShift announced a breakthrough in optimization, which allowed the number of stages to be reduced from three to two, and allowed the estimated payload capacity to be more than tripled, from to the current value.
Brown Dwarf
Was a planned multi-stage sub-orbital launch test vehicle to prepare for regular orbital operational launches with the Red Dwarf rocket. Appears to be no longer actively planned and its purpose replaced by the Stardust and Starless Rogue groups of vehicles.
Recovery and reusability
BluShift demonstrated a simple parachute recovery system on their first suborbital launch of Stardust 1. The Stardust 1 rocket was ultimately not relaunched, instead only being used for post-flight analysis.
BluShift has stated that they plan to recover all stages and payload sections of their suborbital rockets, as well as the first and possibly second stages of their orbital rockets, using parachutes which allow the stages to soft-splashdown off the coast of Maine, where they will be recovered by modified lobster boats used by the recovery team. They expect the stages to endure atmospheric reentry without many issues due to relatively low speeds, and the effects of salt-water on the rocket hardware will be negligible and will not add significantly to the refurbishment time. They claim reusability has been designed into the rocket systems, such as eliminating extra propellant plumbing by using a hybrid rocket design with a solid fuel and liquid oxidizer.
See also
* Similar companies
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** Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is a public American aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider, with a New Zealand subsidiary. The company operates lightweight Electron orbital rockets, which provide dedicated launches for small satellites. Rocket Lab also ...
** Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace is an American private aerospace firm based in Austin, Texas, that develops launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit. The company completed its $75 million Series A investment round in May 2021, which was led by DADA ...
** Relativity Space
Relativity Space is an American aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone. Relativity Space is developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles and ...
** Orbex
Orbital Express Launch Ltd., or Orbex, is a United Kingdom-based aerospace company that is developing a small commercial orbital rocket called Prime. Orbex is headquartered in Forres, Moray, in Scotland and has subsidiaries in Denmark and Germany ...
** Exos Aerospace
Exos Aerospace Systems & Technologies is an aerospace manufacturer and developer of reusable launch systems intended to support uncrewed orbital spaceflight launches, and is based in Caddo Mills, Texas.
Foundation
Exos Aerospace is based on both ...
** LIA Aerospace
** Maritime Launch Services
Maritime Launch Services (MLS) is a Canadian space transport services company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada. MLS will rely on Ukrainian Cyclone-4M rockets by Pivdenne to launch polar and sun synchronous orbit from Canso ...
** Astra Space
Astra is an American launch vehicle company based in Alameda, California. Astra was incorporated in October 2016 by Chris Kemp and Adam London. Formerly known in media as "Stealth Space Company", the company formally came out as Astra Space ...
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References
External links
* {{official, https://www.blushiftaerospace.com/
Aerospace companies of the United States
Aerospace companies