Maia (rocket)

Maia is a French orbital launch vehicle under development by MaiaSpace, a company that ArianeGroup owns outright. It is designed as a two-stage, partly reusable rocket aimed at the small-satellite market. The first stage carries three Prometheus engines and the second stage carries one, and an optional Colibri kick stage, whose engines are being developed by the Polish institute Łukasiewicz-ILOT, can be added on top. The makers quote up to 500 kilograms to low Earth orbit when the first stage is recovered and 1,500 kilograms when the rocket is fully expendable, with the kick stage adding at least 1,000 kilograms to either figure. The first stage is planned to carry landing legs and grid fins and to come down on a barge at sea. As of the source article the first flights were still ahead, with an inaugural suborbital flight expected in 2027 and the first stage recovery in 2028, and the rocket is meant to fly from the former Soyuz launch site at the Guiana Space Centre.