Demo Flight

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Test Flight

Low Earth Orbit Soyuz Launch Complex Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

First launch of MaiaSpace’s Maia launch vehicle

Maia

Family:
Configuration:

The Maia rocket is a future orbital reusable launch vehicle under development by the French startup MaiaSpace, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ArianeGroup. The first stage is powered by 3 Prometheus gas generator methane/LOX engines developed under ESA's Future Launchers Preparatory Programme, with the first stage booster returning to a barge at sea. The second stage is powered by a single Prometheus engine, with restart capability. An optional Colibri kick stage could be added to provide enhanced mission flexibility as well as performance to LEO.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    2
  • Max Stage
    3
  • Length
    50.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.5 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    3.5 m
  • Launch Mass
  • Thrust
    2940.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Maia
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Maia
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    1500.0 kg

MaiaSpace

MaiaSpace

(MaiaSpace)

Founded: 2022 Successes: 0 Failures: 0 Pending: 2

Agency Type:

MaiaSpace is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ArianeGroup established in 2022 to develop a small reusable orbital launch vehicle, the Maia rocket.

INFO WIKI

Related News

Arstechnica

Rocket Report: Big deals for US launch firms, RFA One debut is delayed

"America won the first Space Race, and we can do it again."

European Spaceflight

MaiaSpace Ditches Suborbital Test Flight Plans

MaiaSpace has scrapped plans to conduct a suborbital test flight of its Maia rocket, opting instead to proceed straight to a full orbital launch attempt for the vehicle’s inaugural flight in the second half of 2027. Under its initial devel…

European Spaceflight

MaiaSpace Pushes Inaugural Launch of Maia Rocket to 2027

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. Fou…

SpaceDaily

Russian era ends at abandoned launchpad in South American jungle

Kourou (AFP) Feb 18, 2026 "Stop. Danger of death. Work in progress." This sign, written in Russian, is still hanging inside an office at the site where Russia once launched its Soyuz rockets from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, Fre…

European Spaceflight

MaiaSpace to Launch “Minimum Viable Product” in 2026

French small launch services provider MaiaSpace has explained that an initial flight of its Maia rocket in 2026 will represent the deployment of a “minimum viable product.” MaiaSpace was founded in 2022 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aria…

Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Soyuz Launch Complex


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 5 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-38
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
4 days, 13 hours ago
The Grain Goddess Provides (iQPS Launch 7)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 14 hours ago
BlueBird 11-13 (Block 2 #6-8)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Smart Dragon 3
Success
5 days, 19 hours ago
OSE HS-01 & 02
Haiyang offshore launch location - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

2 hyper-spectral Earth observation satellites from Chinese company STAR.VISION. Both satellites are built in corporation with foreign customers: *…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 5 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-53
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 8A
Success
6 days, 13 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 23
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 17-52
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
NROL-95
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 6A
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
TJSW-27A & B
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Chinese classified satellites claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Long March 7A
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Tianlian 3-01
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Tianlian is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications geostationary satellite series. The TL-3 (Tian Lian 3) satellites are the 3rd generation…