BluShift Aerospace prepares a test launch, Jan. 31, 2021, at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine. Currently the company is working toward its next suborbital launch and plans to expand into the orbital and small satellite services markets in the future. Representatives for a Maine company that plans to send small satellites into space from the Northeast's most rural state said they will start launches next year.
Brunswick-based bluShift Aerospace hopes to turn Maine into a hub for the launching of commercial nanosatellites and has been making progress toward that goal for more than three years. A successful recent round of fundraising means a commercial suborbital launch is on track to start in 2025, company officials said Tuesday., for deployment of satellites, and that leads to long wait times, said bluShift CEO and founder Sascha Deri. Launching small satellites from Maine can change that, Deri said.
“We see an enormous need for dedicated, small-lift satellite deliveries to space,” Deri said, adding that customers are “seeking rapid, affordable access to space and direct delivery to their desired orbit.” The company's progress on launching small satellites is happening during a time of tremendous growth in the industry, company representatives said.
The concept of small satellites was essentially an academic exercise two decades ago and the technology has since become one of the fastest growing in the satellite industry, bluShift representatives said. The worldwide market for a class of small satellites called CubeSats was valued at $210 million in 2021 and is expected to be worth more than four times that by 2030, the company said.