bluShift Successfully Completed a Full Flight-Duration Engine Test Last Night at Brunswick Landing
After pushing back the test by a week, the aerospace company conducted a 63-second burn at 6:14 PM in front of an audience of investors, supporters, and the media.
September 7, 2024 – BRUNSWICK, Maine – bluShift Aerospace announced today that it achieved a major milestone last night at Brunswick Landing when it conducted a flight-duration test of its full-scale Modular Adaptable Rocket Engine for Vehicle Launch (MAREVL™), a novel hybrid rocket engine that burns nontoxic, carbon-neutral, bio-derived solid fuel.
The test was live streamed here.
Drone footage (edited for length) is available here.
At 6:14 PM, CEO and founder of bluShift Aerospace Sascha Deri, initiated a countdown which culminated in a powerful blast followed by a formidable 63-second burn that ignited and lit up the company’s newly configured test stand at Brunswick Landing. An audience of supporters watched in awe as the test blasted off and continued at a powerful throttle for a full 63 seconds.
“We have ignition,” announced Deri at the beginning of the multi-phase engine test sequence, which began with loading roughly 400 gallons of oxidizer into a newly built 30-foot oxidizer tank designed to fly in the company’s suborbital launches. Deri was met by cheers from his audience of supporters who had waited two hours on the edge of the Brunswick Executive Airport runway for the culmination of years of effort from bluShift’s team.
Immediately following the test, Deri addressed his audience of supporters. “Wow, we managed the 60 seconds….we’ve never gone beyond 20 seconds before so this is very good,” he stated. “Now is the time for data analysis to begin and we’ll see what comes back from our team of engineers within the coming days.”
Deri noted that a large and complex collection of data was collected by the bluShift team, which monitors the thrust, stability, heat, vibration, pressure, and other key features of the test.
“Our engineers will be up all night examining the data and I can’t wait to hear what they learn,” said Deri. “By our estimate, we believe the test we just conducted achieved the force needed to successfully lift our suborbital launch vehicle Starless Rogue.”
“This is a colossal milestone for our company, marking the capabilities of our MAREVL™ engine technology,” said Deri. “Tonight’s test represents a major leap toward commercialization of bluShift’s suborbital launch services and represents our unshakable belief that we can bring a more earth-friendly and cost-effective approach to space launch.”
The full duration hotfire test took place at the company’s newly expanded test stand at Brunswick Landing and was the latest in a series of horizontal static tests designed to optimize performance of the company’s biofuel-powered rocket engine, bringing it up to flight-grade performance. In preparation for the full-duration test, the company’s team of engineers had worked tirelessly to install a flight-ready oxidizer tank within a newly configured 40-foot test stand that was re-engineered to tolerate greater amounts of heat, vibration, and pressure.
A previous test of the MAREVL™ engine reached a peak thrust of 20,000 lbs over 20 seconds. According to Deri, the main objective of Friday’s test was to run the engine throttled to meet the requirements to launch their rocket, Starless Rogue, to space over a full 60-second burn. And it appeared to surpass that milestone. Deri noted that data will be released in the coming days, but bluShift’s team of engineers was in agreement that Friday’s test appeared to surpass expectations.
“A successful flight-duration test is a major indicator for any rocket company in their progression towards commercial launch,” said Deri. “With this test behind us, we can now begin to work towards vertical flight configuration on our launch vehicle Starless Rogue.”
ABOUT BLUSHIFT
bluShift is on a mission to provide fast and individualized launch services for the growing sector of modern, small form-factor satellite customers, dramatically reducing the wait times of educational, research, commercial, and governmental customers seeking to launch to space. Founded in 2014, bluShift made history when it launched the first commercial rocket in the world powered by its proprietary nontoxic, carbon-neutral biofuel. Since then, the company has targeted both the suborbital research and the commercial small satellite launch markets, offering customers a more specialized and flexible launch service. Learn more at: https://www.blushiftaerospace.com