MaiaSpace set to forge Europes path to reusability

Date:
Wed, 02 Apr 2025 21:33:06 +0000

Description:
French company MaiaSpace has a good shot at becoming the first European
launch provider to The post MaiaSpace set to forge Europes path to
reusability appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

French company MaiaSpace has a good shot at becoming the first European
launch provider to bring reusable orbital vehicles to the market. The company is firmly on the path to achieving this by leveraging existing technologies and optimizing its design decisions around the vehicle while remaining competitive.

NSF spoke with MaiaSpaces CEO, Yohann Leroy, about the companys forthcoming launcher, which is due to take its maiden flight next year.



Our mission is to bring to the launch pad, in four years, the first European reusable and eco-responsible mini launcher, Leroy told NSF. The vehicle, called Maia, will be able to launch payloads ranging from 500 kg to 4,000 kg, depending on the target orbit. The first stage will land at sea on a barge
for recovery and reuse, similar to SpaceXs Falcon rockets.



The four-year goal set by the company would see the first Maia vehicle launch in 2026. The fast pace of development is made possible by adopting some pre-existing European technologies. Our idea is not to reinvent the wheel but to use the technologies that have been developed here and there in Europe, Leroy adds. See Also Maiaspace updates Commercial spaceflight section
European spaceflight articles Click here to join L2

One year into the project, prototypes of the main aspects of the vehicle were already undergoing testing, adding credibility to the likelihood of reaching its launch target. In June 2023, cryogenic tests were being performed on the first and second stages while ArianeGroup was simultaneously conducting test firings of its Prometheus engine demonstrator. This engine was already well advanced when MaiaSpace was created and was a natural choice for the new vehicle. If we had decided to develop the engine ourselves, explains Leroy, there would be no way for us to be on the launch pad in 2026.

A subsidiary of ArianeGroup, MaiaSpace was created in 2022. It is a French company that considers its DNA to be European, with over half of its partners coming from outside of France. What we are trying to do is combine the best
of two worlds. We are a startup company, but we are also a spin-off from the ArianeGroup, Leroy says.

The separation from ArianeGroup as a self-funded private company enables MaiaSpace to be autonomous and free to make decisions outside of the constraints of the group. The development of our rocket is not funded with public money, but we can draw from the experience and expertise of the mother company, Leroy points out. There are people who have been developing rockets for 40 or 50 years, and that can help us make the right choices and avoid making mistakes. Maia stage on the test bench (Credit: MaiaSpace)

Some inspiration was taken from the European Space Agencys (ESA) Themis demonstrator, which was also on the test stand during the early development
of the Maia prototype stages. Themis serves primarily to test and validate technologies for first-stage reusability under the auspices of ESA. With the expectation of the project eventually contributing to the Ariane program, the Maia vehicle benefits early by being derived from some of that work.

Reusability has been baked into Maias design from the outset, and the company expects to conduct two or three flights to demonstrate control over the first stage before attempting to land on a barge. Functionality such as the stage flip and engine reignition will be proven on these initial flights ahead of a first landing and recovery attempt around 2028. Similar to a Falcon 9, the Maia vehicle has landing legs and grid fins for guidance back to its landing target.

Sometimes the strategy of some other launch operators is to change the design of their rocket to introduce reusability at a later stage, notes Leroy. In
our view, this is suboptimal you need to take this into account right from the beginning. By design, our rocket will be reusable, and we will progressively demonstrate this capability during the ramp-up. Render of the Maia first stage conducting a landing burn on the floating barge. (Credit: MaiaSpace)

The rocket will launch from the converted ELS Soyuz pad at the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), or Guiana Space Center, in Kourou, French Guiana. The
location affords a wide angle of launches to the north and eastwards, benefitting from the added rotational slingshot effect of being close to Earths equator.

The spaceport is currently used by Europes Ariane 6 and Vega rockets, with other launch operators also planning to launch from the site in the future, including PLD Spaces Miura 5, Isar Aerospaces Spectrum, and Rocket Factory Augsburgs RFA One. All this helps the economic equation, Leroy explains, CSG can better share fixed costs with a higher number of operators, and I truly believe this will allow us to get attractive conditions.

From an environmental and sustainability standpoint, reusing the pad meets MaiaSpaces eco-friendly philosophy. However, the pad will still require small amounts of modification before Maia flies. Infrastructure for kerosene propellant is being upgraded to handle the bio-methane propellant, and some work needs to be done on the mechanical structure of the pad itself. Existing buildings will be repurposed, while a new transport erector is being manufactured and will arrive in the first half of next year. This will allow horizontal assembly in the former Soyuz assembly building before the vehicle is rolled out to the pad. Render of the Maia upper stage in orbit during fairing jettison. (Credit: MaiaSpace)

The two-stage Maia vehicle will stand 50 m tall with a diameter of 3.5 m. It will occupy a position in the market between larger medium-lift vehicles such as Falcon 9 and the smaller Electron, Alpha, Vega, and Miura 5 rockets that are approximately half its size. The vehicle can deliver 1,500 kg to a Sun-synchronous orbit when expended or 500 kg when recovering the first
stage.

An optional third Colibri kick stage would add around 1,000 kg to both launch configurations. Missions that take advantage of the additional performance from equatorial launches to inclined low-Earth orbits will see an increase to 4,000 kg. Broadband satellite constellations typically use these orbits, inclined around 50 to 55 degrees for maximum mid-latitude coverage, and could be potential customers for the company.

MaiaSpace consists predominantly of engineers, but the CEO is keen to emphasize that the company philosophy is driven by business thinking. Our objective is not to extract the last kilogram of performance possible considering the size of the rocket. What we are looking for is making the launcher that will allow us to be the most competitive, considering the economies of scale do not necessarily play in our favor. When we compare ourselves to heavy launchers, performance is typically five to ten times
less. In our industry, like many others, when you double the size of the rocket you typically do not double the cost to build it. Render of the Maia first stage approaching the landing barge. (Credit: MaiaSpace)

Leroy is mindful of the benefits and speed to orbit that have made heavier launchers the logical choice for batches of satellites to date, and Maisapace is already having positive conversations with constellation operators. With four tonnes of performance, we believe we can fight against the lack of economies of scale and reach a cost per kilogram, or per satellite deployed, that is equivalent to what heavy launchers can propose to these constellation operators. If we succeed, we can become a solution to further increase the pace at which they can deploy their constellation. For them, it does not represent any extra cost, its just additional launch capabilities they can use.

MaiaSpace announced this month that it has signed a contract with Exotrail
for multiple Spacevan servicer missions starting in 2027. The company is also in discussions with various institutional and commercial customers from Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Maia will be powered by three Prometheus engines on the first stage and a vacuum-optimized Prometheus on the second. The Prometheus engine burns liquid bio-methane and oxygen as propellants and supports reusability through its ability to throttle, which is necessary to slow down the first stage for landings.

Its easier to land if you took off with three engines than with only one, explains Leroy. The thrust for the landing needs to be approximately 10% of the take-off thrust, and having an engine that is capable of reducing its thrust by 90% would be a big challenge. If your thrust is generated by three engines during take-off, then you can achieve 10% of this with one engine fired up at 30% of its thrust, and thats easier to manage. Prometheus engine is tested on the Themis reusable stage demonstrator in June 2023. (Credit: ArianeGroup)

Reusability is the key to success for a launcher of this size and gives MaiaSpace a huge opportunity with the vehicles adaptable configuration. We do not need to waste a first stage when the customer wants to be put into a specific orbit and necessitates only part of the performance of the rocket.
In this situation, we can take advantage of that unused performance to get
the first stage back and reduce the cost to provide the service.

This approach will enable the company to remain competitive and have more opportunities to launch and learn, drawing from the benefits of a higher launch cadence. As with the Falcon 9, the landing legs and grid fins would be removed for expendable missions.

MaiaSpace applies an agile approach, commonly used in software engineering,
to build and test a minimum viable product (MVP) for each version of its designs so that it can quickly learn and iterate. The team is currently finalizing the second main model of Maia before progressing with the next and final model, which will be the flight hardware. The test campaign for an interstage has already begun on the test bench.

This is a specific challenge considering the rocket will be reusable and pushes us to make the separation at a lower altitude than would be the case otherwise. Theres a lot between performing cryogenic tests on the first prototype and bringing a launcher to the pad but its a good sign to have been able to do this in one year, says Leroy. Maia prototype stages under
cryogenic testing. (Credit: MaiaSpace)

The MVP approach means some performance decisions and ideas have been initially discarded in the interest of the schedule and reaching the launch pad on target. The vehicle wont, for example, use condensed propellants at
the super-chilled temperatures used by SpaceX on its Falcon 9. We are ready
to be simple and accept solutions that are not optimal from a performance standpoint, but once we have performed our first launches, we will seriously consider improving the performance, notes Leroy.

The team has plenty of ideas that can be introduced later, thanks to its modular design. Improvements such as adding more Prometheus engines to the first stage would be much simpler than increasing the performance with technical choices that might have otherwise been specific to this particular design. One engineering tradeoff was the conclusion that stainless steel was the best option for the construction of the tanks, albeit not from a purely engineering standpoint. Once again, our objective is not to maximize the performance of the launcher; its to make it as competitive as possible, Leroy points out. Render of the Maia vehicle on the launch pad in Kourou. (Credit: MaiaSpace)

The company expects to ramp up to 20 flights per year towards the end of the decade and reuse its first stage boosters at least five times each. There are no immediate plans, however, to attempt fairing recovery or to return the booster for a landing on a concrete pad at the launch site. The performance penalty would be much higher if the first stage had to return to the launch pad, adds Leroy. So, for the time being, the idea is to land a few hundred kilometers from the French Guiana coast on a barge at sea.

While some launch operators have larger heavy-lift vehicle concepts further down their timeline, MaiaSpace is content to focus on demonstrating the operation of the first Maia vehicle for now, which Leroy describes as future-proof. With the four tonnes we can reach in an inclined orbit, we believe we can successfully address the broadband constellation [market]. We want to grasp some market share in the 500 kg satellite market and the 1.5 to three tonne [market], and by bringing them together, we will be able to make
a profitable business plan.

(Lead image: Render of the Maia vehicle in flight. Credit: MaiaSpace)



The post MaiaSpace set to forge Europes path to reusability appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/04/maiaspace-interview/


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Science News (1337:1/100)