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Credit: MaiaSpace<\/p>\n Credit: MaiaSpace<\/p>\n
During an event at the Guiana Space Centre on 24 February, ArianeGroup subsidiary MaiaSpace announced that the inaugural flight of its two-stage Maia rocket will take place in 2027, slipping from a previously expected late-2026 launch.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2022, MaiaSpace is developing a two-stage partially reusable rocket that will be capable of delivering up to 1,500 kilograms into low Earth orbit when launched in a fully expendable configuration. The company is also developing a kick stage that is expected to add as much as 1,000 kilograms to the rocket\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
In January, MaiaSpace confirmed that it was targeting an initial suborbital demonstration flight of its Maia rocket in late 2026. While the launch will use a full two-stage configuration of the rocket, it will carry a reduced propellant load to reach a minimum altitude of 100 kilometres, the generally accepted boundary between Earth\u2019s atmosphere and space known as the K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line. The company told European Spaceflight<\/a> at the time that the vehicle represented \u201ca minimum viable product designed to test critical phases.\u201d<\/p>\n On 24 February, representatives from MaiaSpace, local authorities in Kourou, and the French space agency CNES gathered at the site of the former Soyuz launch facility at the Guiana Space Centre to sign a Temporary Public Domain Occupancy Agreement. This allows MaiaSpace to begin dismantling Soyuz-specific infrastructure that will no longer be required before starting construction of the modifications needed to launch Maia rockets from the site.<\/p>\n During the event, Maia officials revealed that they expected to host the inaugural flight of Maia from the facility in 2027. When asked for comment by European Spaceflight, a representative explained that the company remained committed to launching its first rocket less than five years after the company\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe remain committed to our goal of achieving a first launch less than five years after the company\u2019s creation i.e., April 2027. Our internal objective is even more ambitious: to have a launcher vertically mounted on the launch pad before the end of 2026 in order to conduct combined tests prior to our first flight. Maintaining this roadmap will not be without challenges and difficulties, but it is inherent to our iterative learning method, which places ground and flight testing at the heart of the development process to go faster.\u201d<\/p>\n