BRUNSWICK, Maine, Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- bluShift Aerospace, a Maine-based NewSpace startup, announced today that it has been featured in a major new documentary-style series called "The Business of Climate Change," launched by Forbes, the world's largest business media brand. The 8-minute segment featuring bluShift was released today as part of a YouTube series.

bluShift Aerospace made history in January 2021 when it launched Stardust 1.0 – the first ever commercial rocket to use nontoxic, bio-derived fuel. Since then, the NewSpace startup has been working around the clock to raise capital to fund its next full-sized commercial suborbital rocket, Starless Rogue and to secure a launch site off the downeast coast of Maine.

The Business of Climate Change is a new series that explores some of the industries implicated in climate change and highlights those working to create solutions. According to Forbes producer Juliet Muir, bluShift was chosen as a featured company because of its groundbreaking work in biofuels.

Nontoxic Rocket Fuel is Possible
bluShift gained international recognition for developing its own proprietary blend of nontoxic rocket fuel, which comes very close to being carbon neutral and is made entirely from materials grown on a farm. Deri says, now that bluShift has proven that biofuels can work to propel rockets, more players in the transportation-to-space industry should be relying on alternatives to traditional fuel, and they can do so without sacrificing efficiency.

"By using a nontoxic fuel, space transportation companies can lower their fuel and their logistical costs while dramatically reducing their environmental impact," said Sascha Deri, CEO and founder of bluShift Aerospace. "The game changer here is that so much of the fuel used today by the aerospace industry is petroleum based and ours is not. The ingredients can be found on farms across America and indeed across the world."

According to Deri, the company's business goal is to launch small payloads for commercial and academic customers who currently have to rely on expensive, infrequent rideshare opportunities in large payload bays offered by SpaceX, RocketLab, Virgin Orbit and other large players. By catering to launch capabilities for small satellites, bluShift can provide a niche service that currently does not exist in the aerospace industry. "These launches will not only advance science and our understanding of planet Earth, but they will serve a growing number of commercial small satellite customers who want to be in charge of when they can launch and want to avoid the 9–12-month delays that are currently typical," said Deri. Because of his company's nontoxic bio-derived fuel, when the small custom-built rockets return to Earth they won't endanger humans or pollute the ocean below.

bluShift Facts and Background

  • bluShift is on a mission to create an earth-friendly rocket company that shows the world that it's possible to carry small, efficient payloads for paying customers.
  • On January 31, 2021, bluShift made history when it launched the first commercial rocket in the world powered by eco-friendly, bio-derived fuel from Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone, Maine.
  • Currently bluShift engineers are hard at work at the company's headquarters at Hangar 6 in Brunswick, where they are designing a full-sized commercial suborbital rocket, Starless Rogue, which is expected to launch in 2022 using the company's proprietary nontoxic, bio-derived fuel. Additionally, the company is working to qualify for NASA Flight Opportunities Program for future suborbital launches. The fuel, test site, and launchpad will all be solar-powered, and bluShift will reuse nearly 100% of its suborbital rockets and 70% of its orbital ones.
  • Market analysis company Frost & Sullivan predicts that small-satellite launch service revenues will exceed $28 billion by 2030.
  • To date, bluShift has raised more than $1M in capital investment from local and national investors and is actively raising funds via the crowdfunding platform Wefunder.
  • The company is poised to capture a sector of a quickly expanding market, creating 50 jobs in the next five years and supporting more jobs across Maine.

About bluShift Aerospace
On January 31, 2021, bluShift Aerospace made history when it launched the first commercial rocket in the world powered by eco-friendly, bio-derived fuel from Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone, Maine. Founded in 2014, bluShift has designed a bio-derived rocket fuel and a modular hybrid rocket engine, and 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 (miniature satellite) launch services. By launching rockets to polar orbit from coastal Maine, bluShift plans to create over 50 aerospace jobs in the next five years and bring revenue from the rapidly growing cubesat launch market into the state. bluShift Aerospace is headquartered at Hangar 6, at Brunswick Landing. For more information visit their website at https://blushiftaerospace.com/ or watch this 1.5 minute video.

Or, watch Sascha as he breaks down the facts about bluShift's nontoxic bio-derived fuel.

Media Contact

Betta Stothart, Betta Stothart Consulting, 1 2074000015, bstothart@gmail.com

Seth Lockman, bluShift Aerosapce, 2075170171, seth.lockman@blushiftaerospace.com

 

SOURCE bluShift Aerospace

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