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V O L . X X V N O. V M A R C H 4 , 2 0 1 9 20 A growing segment of companies, including powerhouses like Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit, is developing small launch vehicles to serve, essentially, as taxis, allowing nanosatellite operators to choose the time and orbital configu- ration for deployment. Enter VALT and bluShift. bluShift Aerospace Deri, with a team of seven engineers, is developing a line of eco-friendly rockets, using a new type of bio-derived fuel, to provide affordable launch services. BluShift is targeting universities, corpo- rations and federal agencies that want to launch nanosatellites into altitudes of 400 miles or less. ere's already a year- long backlog of organizations seeking to launch nanosatellites, he says. Raised in Maine and holding degrees in physics and electrical engineering, in 1999 Deri founded AltE, a Boxborough, Mass.-based solar company that he still runs. He started bluShift in 2014, working at TechPlace and leveraging its machine shop, tools and composite layup areas to accelerate R&D without enormous upfront capital. His original aim was to build a small suborbital rocket prototype to carry a payload of 10 kilograms, or 22 pounds. With test launches planned through late next year, the next goal is to test a full-sized launch vehicle. e latter will carry 50 kilograms, or 110 pounds, and accommodate 20 to 30 nanosatellites. Manufacturing of the larger vehicle is expected to begin in early 2021, for commercial launch in 2022. e larger vehicle will be about the length of a telephone pole, he says. Construction of the smaller vehi- cle will cost less than $100,000, but the larger vehicle could cost upwards to $800,000. Deri says he expects construction costs to decrease as the business scales up. e project has been financed by $250,000 of investment from his solar company and personal funds, sweat equity from his volunteer team of engineers and designers in return for company ownership and $50,000 in Maine Technology Institute grants and in-kind services. He's seeking further grants from MTI and NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program and angel investment. It is also crowdfunding through Patreon (check out the video on patreon.com/ blushift). Funds will help hire a full- time mechanical engineer from the volunteer pool and pay for machin- ing-and-fabrication space and new infrastructure near the test site. He's avoiding venture capital funding to retain control of the company. "When venture capitalists get involved, the passion and technology often get lost," he says. "I don't want to that happen in Maine." He expects to complete small- engine testing, costing $150 per five seconds of fuel use, this spring. Large- engine tests cost $750 a pop. "at's the type of thing crowdfund- ing can help us punch through," he says. Once the larger rocket rolls out, payload space is tentatively priced at less than $25,000 per kilogram, he says. e plan calls for seven launches the first year, and monthly to weekly launches by the second year, when he says payback on investment will begin. Working with nanosatellite launch brokers, he has developed an initial cus- tomer base, including institutions that want to test communications technology in space conditions. VALT Enterprises In Sanford, Hoose and McGill are developing a 20-foot launch vehicle. It incorporates a hypersonic "airbreathing" propulsion system, which lightens the rocket's weight and increases cargo space by eliminating the need to carry oxidizer tanks for its fuel mix, instead draw- ing oxygen from earth's atmosphere. e eastern Maine coast and Loring Commerce Centre have been identified as options for potential launch sites. e initial ticket price for a 55-pound payload is expected to be $1.75 million. He says that will decline as business scales up. "We expect it to be a lucrative busi- ness," he says. In 1989, Hoose founded Applied ermal Sciences, a specialty engi- neering firm in Sanford with 30,000 square feet of facilities, 30 employees and, at its peak, $10 million in revenue. e recession shut down much of its government business, he says, and the company closed in 2015. One piece of that, rocket research funded by a 2009 grant of $75,000 from the Office of Naval Research, helped with the development of VALT. "We found there were people who needed access to space, at specific places and times," Hoose says. Hoose invested $4 million from Applied Sciences and personal sources. He expects to raise another $30 million in the next three years. Some revenue will come from government and pos- sibly commercial clients paying for space access during VALT's suborbital tests. VALT is also pursuing crowd- funding and grants. Hoose says he's confident he'll raise the money, given his prior industry knowledge and relationships. Funding will pay for a manufactur- ing facility, initially 5,000 square feet, and an initial 10 engineers and busi- ness people. In-house manufacturing will keep the project on schedule and minimize costs, he says. McGill says there's strong cor- relation between current and emerg- ing commercial, civil and govern- ment applications and missions and nanosatellites. "One of VALT's primary goals is to support the emergence of a huge wave of new space entrepreneurs, here in Maine first, and then across the U.S. and abroad," McGill says. Aerospace outlook Challenges include uncertainty around the overall nanosatellite market, still in its infancy. ere's also concern about the potential for small satellites to worsen the issue of orbital space debris. Manufacturing chal- lenges include optimizing payload- to-vehicle-weight ratios: a payload that's too heavy will prevent the vehicle from achieving propulsion needed to reach orbit. In Maine, VALT and bluShift's developments occur against a couple of backdrops. One is Maine's existing supply chain that services the aerospace industry. e Maine Aerospace Alliance, which was formed in 2010, grew out of efforts by the Maine Technology Institute to attract aerospace work to Maine, says Manufacturers Association of Maine Executive Director Lisa Martin. It had been led by Rich Grich, who helped develop the University of Maine's aerospace engineering program but passed away in January 2018. He helped the alliance build its member- ship to 45 to 50 companies. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M PA G E 1 8 P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F B L U S H I F T A E RO S PA C E A recent rocket engine performance test on bluShift Aerospace's vertical test stand in Brunswick. M A N U FA C T U R I N G F O C U S

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