by Sascha Deri

Earlier this month, I spent the afternoon with a band of students from Jonesport-Beals High School. It was inspiring to see so many smart young people engaging in the science and technology of aerospace. It had me remembering my own childhood in Orland and Bucksport. I grew up knowing I’d have to leave Maine to pursue a career in technology. And that’s what I did.

Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of news about bluShift Aerospace. Our work to find a launch site on the Down East coast has been described as “stalled” and facing a “setback.” We’re frustrated that so many folks have formed negative opinions before gathering the basic facts about our company. I have always said that I want bluShift to be a good fit with any community where we launch. 

Our goal is to be a good neighbor and job creator and work around the schedules of the fishing community. At the end of the day, I’m a small business owner who cringes at the idea of hurting the bottom line of a fellow small business owner making a living on the ocean or the land. bluShift certainly doesn't want to operate in a community where we’re not welcome. Therefore, I am actively seeking a community on the Down East coast that wants to grow and diversify economically, and that can envision a future that includes launches of small, non-toxic, biofuel-powered, Maine-made rockets.

In addition to the many studies that will need to be done before we can proceed anywhere, including a very thorough environmental impact study, my goal is to see if and how we can share the ocean with a community of people who make their living on the water. I’d love to provide not only new jobs, but a new industry that any community could be proud to host. 

One thing I do regret is that the negativity in Jonesport focuses away from the incredible opportunity that a small launch site in Maine represents. In 10 years, we hope to be doing 8 suborbital launches and 24 orbital launches a year. In addition to the construction work that would make this possible, bluShift would create 25 to 35 high-paying jobs in and around the launch, mission control, and manufacturing sites. These jobs are not just for engineers. We will need machinists, welders, composite material workers, launch logistics personnel, and customer service representatives.

It is my opinion that concerns about the impact of noise from our small rockets have been wildly overstated and would pale in comparison to the decibel levels of some of the common boat engine, airplane, and helicopter noises heard up and down the Maine Coast. In fact, the largest rocket that bluShift would conceivably launch from an island off our coast would sound about as loud as a foghorn a few hundred feet away, and would last only seconds. The annual Lobster Boat Races held up and down the coast, or even the Blue Angels performing in Brunswick, are not only much louder, but they last minutes or hours, not seconds.

Any town bluShift launches from will benefit from the property taxes paid by both our company and our staff. On top of that, local businesses such as hardware, grocery, or convenience stores in the area would see increased business around launch days. Restaurants, hotels, and vacation rentals would benefit too. In addition to the ongoing employment our operations would provide, we plan to contract with local commercial boat owners from the area to help transport our rockets to the launch area just prior to launch and again for recovery after splashdown.

Above all, I hope folks will consider the educational opportunities that a Maine rocket company would bring to town. I’ve committed bluShift to ongoing support of the space science curriculum at the regional high school of the town where we launch, as well as scholarships for students pursuing careers in engineering, science, and STEM trades.

If bluShift can find a suitable site on the Down East coast for safely launching small rockets to polar orbit, it’s not just a great way to bring tech dollars from an emerging industry into the state. It’s an opportunity to re-envision what Maine can do. Fiber Materials Incorporated in Biddeford moved to Maine to hire skilled textile workers, and now produces heat shields for Mars rovers. They’re not the first or the last aerospace company to move to Maine for skilled labor. 

On January 31, 2021 bluShift’s first rocket took to the clear Maine sky, making world history and launching us into an elite category of successful small launch companies. I’ve spent eight years building an extraordinary team that is creating a new kind of transportation-to-space company. We are working to push the aerospace industry away from toxic fuels and carbon-intensive practices, toward conducting itself in an Earth responsible manner. This means going up against giants in the space industry. I am proud we are already changing the national conversation around sustainable space transportation.

Maine has a vibrant heritage of building oceangoing ships. Now we are building spaceships. Launching them here would benefit our state even more. As someone who grew up in Maine, I am keenly aware of the economic hardships faced by towns along the Down East coast. I believe bluShift has the ability to not only create jobs but to raise aspirations for the young people of Washington County and for Maine as a whole.

Do we really want to tell our children that unless they want to work in Maine’s heritage industries – fishing, logging, blueberries, and tourism – the only place for them is outside of Maine? It’s time for all of us to make some bold, new options available for everyone in our beautiful state no matter where they live.

About the author: Sascha Deri grew up in Bucksport and Orland, Maine, earning a degree in physics from Earlham College and a degree in electrical engineering from University of Southern Maine. In 1999 he co-founded the altE Store, a national renewable energy product distribution and light manufacturing company. In 2014, Mr. Deri founded bluShift Aerospace, which on January 31, 2021, made history by becoming the first-ever commercial launch of a rocket-powered by a nontoxic, bio-derived fuel. Today, bluShift is working toward a small rocket that can lift 100-kilogram payloads to low-Earth orbit. This new system will dramatically reduce the environmental impact, cost, and wait times of current mini-satellite launch services. By launching rockets to polar orbit from coastal Maine, bluShift hopes to create 50+ aerospace jobs in the next five years. Mr. Deri lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife and two daughters.