BRUNSWICK, Maine — Editor's note: The video above aired Dec. 6, 2019.
A Maine-based aerospace company on Tuesday conducted a successful test of a new rocket engine powered by an innovative bioderived fuel.
"I’m still shaking, and my heart is pounding a thousand beats per second, but wow. This test was exactly what we were hoping for," bluShift Aerospace CEO Sascha Deri told onlookers after the test.
The engine measures 2 feet in diameter and 8 feet long.
The company will now focus on its full-sized, commercial suborbital rocket, Starless Rogue, which is expected to launch in 2022, and its orbital rocket, Red Dwarf. Red Dwarf will deliver nanosatellites, or "cubesats" -- small, powerful satellites -- into polar orbit around the earth, the company said.
Tuesday's test follows a Jan. 31, 2021, launch from the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone of the world's first commercial rocket powered by bioderived, eco-friendly fuel.
