Green rocket startup bluShift Aerospace announced Wednesday that it will build a base of operations in the fishing village of Steuben in Washington County, but the company’s founder and CEO said its engineering team will continue to work from Brunswick.
“A lot of effort and time has been invested in building the infrastructure (of our Brunswick),” said bluShift CEO Sascha Deri. “I don’t think we’ll have to move it anytime soon, if at all. “
Based at Brunswick Landing’s TechPlace, bluShift plans to bring in payloads and small suborbital and low-orbit satellites with its biofuel rockets. It hopes to make its first advertising launch in 2023.
The team had planned to build rockets in Brunswick, but now expects those operations to be transferred to a facility in Steuben, Deri said.
“The skills of the other people in coastal net paintings are very compatible with the type of paints we’re going to do,” he said. “Rocket design and engineering is space science. Building them is just making ships. “
Steuben has a solid pool of staff with skills like welding, composite paints and machining, which means bluShift may not have to look far to recruit talent, Deri said. And through the construction of its production base near the launch site on the steuben coast. , bluShift will be able to fix your reusable rockets well after launch.
The company estimates that the production plant could create 150 to 200 new jobs in the next five to seven years, a major promotional point for Steuben citizens concerned about the city’s economic future.
“What do our grandchildren have?” asked Larry Pinkham, president of Steuben Selectmen.
Pinkham said he and other citizens of the city were skeptical in the first place when bluShift unveiled its launch site. effect on fishermen.
Still, Deri, who said the Jonestown vote was the result of rampant “rumors and rumors,” controlled to allay Steuben’s fears, thanks in part to the help of Robert Bayer, professor emeritus of animal and veterinary sciences at the University of Maine and former director of the Lobster Institute. Bayer found that the presence of bluShift’s patented forged rocket fuel had no effect on locusts, which are notoriously sensitive.
“It’s completely innocent,” Bayer said of the fuel, which doesn’t dissolve in water. “I can’t really think of anything more innocent. “
BluShift’s commitment to green rocket launches has contributed to the steady flow of interest from engineers hoping to sign up for the start-up, Deri said. While some Midcoast corporations reported difficulties recruiting workers due to housing shortages, Deri said bluShift has had no problem locating scientists willing to relocate to Brunswick, where the company will continue to conduct dozens of rocket tests.
In addition to tapping into what Deri says is a $20 billion market to launch small satellites, bluShift hopes to turn Maine into a destination for talented young workers.
“We have a long history that our main export is our people,” he said. “We have an exciting opportunity to take this entire industry out of the New Space and make it a component of our economy. “
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