But it’s not clear why … Founded in early 2022 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ArianeGroup, MaiaSpace is developing a 50-meter tall, two-stage, partially reusable rocket designed to deliver small satellites to orbit. Avio builds solid rocket motors and is best known for its Vega rockets. It’s not clear why a reusable launch company would want to partner with a company that builds solids, which are not reusable. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Australian space center shuts down. A spaceport in the Northern Territory of Australia will cease operations immediately, the Australian Broadcast Corporation reports. The company running the spaceport, Equatorial Launch Australia, said it was now in conversations with the Queensland government to relocate its operations to Cape York. The space center’s claim to fame was the 2022 launch of three NASA sounding rockets from the facility.
Disagreements over territory … The company, Equatorial Launch Australia, had been planning a major expansion of the Arnhem Space Centre at its East Arnhem Land location. However that process apparently got bogged down, and the spaceport company blamed the delays on the Northern Land Council. This council pushed back and described those claims as a “falsehood.” The wait for a renewal of orbital launches from Down Under continues. (submitted by Marzipan)
Ukrainian launch company finds refuge in Maine. Promin Aerospace, a small launch company from Dnipro, Ukraine, opened its doors in Maine this month with a goal of hiring US engineers to complete development of its first rocket in time for a test launch in mid-2026, Payload reports. Promin’s goal of launching Ukraine’s first rocket from the coast of the Black Sea was put on hold after Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
Lobsters and launches … For the past two and a half years, Promin has been developing its unique rocket technology amid power outages, Internet connectivity problems, and sporadic attacks on Dnipro from Russian forces. The search started in Europe but quickly moved across the pond to take advantage of the speed and resources that US industry provides. “[Europe moves] very slow, so a lot of things that we expected would be done by our partners in 2022, they’re only going to be done in 2025,” said Misha Rudominski, Promin’s co-founder and CEO. The Maine Space Corporation was more welcoming. (submitted by Ken the Bin)