Rocket Launch Take Two – bluShift Aerospace Prepares Second Attempt in Limestone, Maine
What: bluShift Aerospace, a Brunswick-based NewSpace startup, announced today that it has returned to the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone, Maine, to conduct the world’s first commercial launch of a rocket powered by biofuel. (An earlier launch attempt was cancelled due to unfavorable weather). This low-altitude demo launch will be viewed by a select group of honored guests and is the culmination of six years of R&D, over two hundred engine tests, the successful realization of grants from NASA and the Maine Technology Institute, and the development of a novel modular hybrid rocket engine.
Sign up for the livestream: The launch will be livestreamed at this location on YouTube.
When:
- Press Conference: Saturday, January 30, 2021 from 3-4 pm.
- Rocket Launch: Sunday, January 31, 2021 @ 10 AM
We are fortunate to have experienced weatherman Russ Murley, from National Weather Forecasting, Inc, advising us. Murley has predicted fair skies on the morning of January 31. However, it should be noted that rocket launches can often be delayed for a variety of reasons, including weather, which can change quickly. We’ll keep you posted if we are delayed.
Where: Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone, Maine.
Google Map Address: Snowbarn Road, Limestone, ME 04750.
Travel to the eastern end of Snowbarn Road, turn right, and follow signage to plowed area.
Who:
- Sascha Deri, CEO and Founder of bluShift Aerospace
- Seth Lockman, Communications Director, bluShift Aerospace, 207-517-0171
- Betta Stothart, PR Consultant, 207-400-0015
- bluShift engineers including Brook Halvorson, Luke Saindon, Michael Ostromecky, Steve Savoie, and Ben Lemieux.
- Please check with Seth or Sascha before photographing, filming, or speaking with the engineers.
Press release to follow.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Seth Lockman, Communications Director, bluShift Aerospace,
Cell: 207-517-0171
Email: seth.lockman@blushiftaerospace.com
Betta Stothart, PR Consultant
207-400-0015
bstothart@gmail.com
Tentative Itinerary:
The invitation-only launch event will take place at 10 AM on January 31, 2021 (weather permitting) with a select group of spectators and honored guests. Guests will be welcomed to the viewing area at 9 AM, where they will view the rocket and learn about the proprietary technologies developed to create the hybrid rocket engine and the biofuel. At around 10 AM, a countdown will begin.
Key Terms:
hybrid rocket engine: A rocket propulsion system that uses propellants of two different states of matter, most commonly a solid fuel lining a combustion chamber and a liquid oxidizer passing through or around the solid fuel while an ignition source is active in the combustion chamber. Hybrid rockets can offer the throttleability of liquid-propelled rockets, better engine performance than solid-fuel rockets, and simplicity as only the oxidizer requires tubing and moving parts. Hybrid rockets present the challenge of maintaining stable combustion as the fuel burns, effectively changing the shape of the combustion chamber.
launch: the process by which a rocket transitions from being mechanically supported by the Earth’s surface to accelerating against gravity under its own combustive power.
cubesat: a class of satellites built to standard dimensions (Units or “U”) of 10cm to a side, typically massing less than 1.33kg (3lb) per U. Cubesats often cost just hundreds or thousands of dollars to produce, and can easily operate in networked “swarms” with the same functionality of a single large satellite. One advantage of a swarm is that even the total failure of several cubesats may still allow the swarm to function normally. A cubesat may also be described as a nanosatellite (massing 1-10kg or weighing 2.2-22lb) and as a smallsat (massing less than 180kg or weighting less than 397lb), but a nanosat or smallsat is not necessarily a cubesat.
suborbital: descriptive of a ballistic trajectory that neither makes a full circle around the Earth nor escapes Earth’s sphere of influence completely.
low-Earth orbit (LEO): an orbit between 160km (100mi) and 1000km (620mi) above Earth’s mean sea level. At these altitudes a satellite circles the earth in about 90 minutes, or about 16 times per Earth-day.
polar orbit: an orbit which passes over the Earth from north to south rather than from west to east, passing roughly over Earth’s poles while the Earth rotates underneath the orbiting body. This type of orbit is particularly useful for Earth-imaging and communications.
About bluShift Aerospace
Founded in 2014, bluShift Aerospace has designed a bio-derived rocket fuel and a modular hybrid rocket engine, is working toward a small rocket that can lift 30-kilogram payloads to low-Earth orbit. This new launch system will dramatically reduce the environmental impact, cost, and wait times of current cubesat launch services. By launching these rockets to polar orbit from Maine, bluShift plans to create over 40 aerospace jobs in the next 5 years and bring revenue from the rapidly growing cubesat (miniature satellites) launch market into the state. bluShift Aerospace is headquartered at TechPlace, at Brunswick Landing. For more information visit their website at https://blushiftaerospace.com/ or watch this 3-minute video.
