Brunswick rocket-maker bluShift Aerospace is marketing its proprietary technologies — non‑toxic, bio‑derived fuel and a patent‑pending oxidizer system — to the broader market for rocket boosters, as an alternative to traditional solid rocket motors.
“The U.S. is dangerously behind in solid rocket motor propulsion capacity and development of hypersonics, and our foreign competitors are out‑testing us by orders of magnitude,” said Sascha Deri, bluShift’s founder and CEO.
“We built a propulsion technology whose time has arrived,” he added. “It’s safer to manufacture, uses non-toxic propellants, dramatically cheaper to produce and sourced entirely from materials available here in the U.S.”
Filling a gap
Deri founded bluShift in 2014 to develop a line of eco-friendly rockets to provide affordable, sustainable space launch services.
The goal is to enter the nanosatellite launch industry as an on-demand type of service for customers such as universities, corporations and federal agencies that want to deploy the small satellites, usually for research purposes, on the customer’s timetable. The rocket then returns to Earth.
Now the company said its technology could also fill a gap between national demand for rocket booster propulsion and limited domestic capacity to supply it. The shortfall is increasingly affecting defense programs, hypersonic testing and commercial aerospace development, Deri said.
Half the cost
Typical solid fuels are toxic, expensive and dependent on global supply chains vulnerable to disruption, Deri said.
BluShift’s booster line includes a high‑performance bio‑derived fuel sourced from “an effectively unlimited domestic supply” and technology that’s half the cost of traditional solid rocket motors, he said.
The company’s propulsion platform is backed by technical milestones achieved over the past 18 months, demonstrating readiness for commercial and defense deployment, he said.
That includes completing full‑duration engine tests showing sufficient performance to boost the company’s suborbital research rocket, Starless Rogue, to space.
The company delivered a $1 million U.S. Air Force contract advancing bluShift’s MAREVL engine as a next‑generation replacement for legacy strap‑on solid rocket boosters.
The company’s fuel production system requires under $15,000 in equipment, compared with millions typically required for solid‑fuel manufacturing, Deri said.
Demand for alternatives
The company continues to refine the technology for Starless Rogue.
“Meanwhile, almost a year ago, a hypersonic company in the Northeast reached out to us and said, ‘What is your booster capable of doing?” Deri told Mainebiz.
The company contracted bluShift to refine the technology and integrate it for its hypersonic vehicles.
Deri did not have permission to reveal the name of the company.
“We knew about this market before,” he said. “We hadn’t been aggressively chasing it. But this market came to us.”
Deri said he expects funds from the contract to kick in by this spring, which will allow the refinements to get underway.
He said he envisions a broad array of customers.
“I really like the concept and the capability,” he said. “But people want to see it in action before they make a commitment.”
With a team of 11, including Deri, bluShift operates at Brunswick Landing and expects to continue its “static fire” tests for Starless Rogue this spring.
“There’s quite a bit of demand for alternatives that are non-toxic and that cost less,” said Deri. “We think it’s a game-changer, but we need to prove ourselves.”
MTI loan
The Maine Technology Institute recently awarded bluShift a $2 million interest-free loan from its Maine Technology Asset Fund. The award, which requires a $10 million match, is designated for bluShift to expand its manufacturing and propulsion test infrastructure.
New and upgraded facilities will include a mobile launch trailer, improved vertical and horizontal test cells, secure power and communications systems and enhanced site access and safety features.
The investment is expected to significantly increase testing throughput, reduce production timelines, create jobs and bring the company firmly into revenue generation.
Deri was honored on the Mainebiz Next list in 2021.