MaiaSpace weighs fourth engine for Maia rocket
MaiaSpace · ArianeGroup
ArianeGroup subsidiary MaiaSpace is considering a fourth Prometheus engine that would double Maia's payload across all variants.
what happened
Per European Spaceflight, MaiaSpace is considering adding a fourth Prometheus methalox engine to its Maia rocket's first stage, raising capacity from 500 kg to 8 tonnes to low Earth orbit with first-stage recovery. A company spokesperson said the roughly EUR1 million-per-engine upgrade would proceed only if the three-engine baseline version, targeted for early 2027, first demonstrates market demand.
why it matters
A credible path to 8 tonnes reusable would move Maia from a small launcher into a larger performance class, but the upgrade is explicitly conditional on the three-engine Maia flying and finding demand first, so it remains a stated plan rather than a committed program.
for who
European launch-vehicle capacity planners
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- MaiaSpace, ArianeGroup
- Category
- product
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 3 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-06-30
- Published
- 2026-07-06 12:46 UTC