Colorado-based rocket producer Ursa Main has obtained $32.9 million from U.S flight check firm Stratolaunch.
The multi-year contract will see Ursa Main develop and ship 16 of its hypersonic Hadley H13 engines, following a sequence of profitable flight collaborations between the 2 companies.
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Ursa Main’s Hadley H13, an upgraded liquid rocket engine designed for industrial, house, and protection functions, affords elevated engine reusability whereas lowering the associated fee per flight. It has reached sustained Mach 5+ hypersonic speeds in two exams since late 2024, surpassing flight and energy targets aboard Stratolaunch’s Talon-A2 testbed.
“This contract immediately helps U.S. hypersonic check infrastructure and the broader crucial to speed up high-speed flight packages that ship for nationwide safety,” commented Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Ursa Main.
“Because the proud accomplice and hypersonic propulsion supplier to Stratolaunch, we’re targeted on getting actual functionality into the sphere – quicker, at scale, and with out compromising efficiency.”
3D printed rocket engines energy Stratolaunch
Ursa Main’s Hadley engine started growth in 2015, with prototypes examined in 2018 and flight qualification attained in March 2022.
The 5,000-pound-thrust (lbf) liquid oxygen and kerosene engine options an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle optimized for small launch and hypersonic autos. It’s the first product in Ursa Main’s household of propulsion programs, which additionally contains the Draper, Ripley, and Arroway fashions.
Ursa Main’s engines are greater than 80% 3D printed by mass, utilizing the corporate’s proprietary additive manufacturing know-how. The agency says this strategy reduces manufacturing and supply occasions from six months to only one.
The Hadley has already powered profitable flight exams of Stratolaunch’s Talon-A automobile. Two of those, accomplished as a part of the Pentagon’s Multi-Service Superior Functionality Hypersonic Testbed program (MACH-TB), achieved hypersonic speeds exceeding Mach 5.
Performed in December 2024 and March 2025, the exams reportedly met the Division of Protection’s (DOD) efficiency benchmarks inside a 1% margin. The testbed automobile additionally achieved profitable restoration post-landing for re-use.
Ursa Main’s Hadley H13 is a mission-upgraded variant designed to mix elevated engine reusability with extra begins. This, in flip, drives down prices and helps extra check targets and mission profiles for aerospace and protection purchasers.
Ursa Main’s rising order e book
Ursa Main’s new $32.9M contract provides to its rising order e book throughout the aerospace and protection sectors.
March 2025 noticed Sirius Applied sciences, the ussubsidiary of Tokyo’s Revolutionary House Service (ISC), procure ten Hadley launch engines. These are getting used within the growth and testing of the ISC’s ASCA reusable house automobile, which is predicted to launch later this yr. The 2 firms are additionally collaborating to develop a brand new medium-lift engine scaled from Ursa Main’s Arroway mannequin. This undertaking will proceed by way of 2028.
Final yr, the U.S. agency obtained $12.5 million from the U.S. Navy and the Workplace of Strategic Capital to scale manufacturing of 3D printed strong rocket motors (SRM). This funding displays the Pentagon’s rising funding in additive manufacturing, seen as important to bolstering the home missile provide chain. Ursa Main had beforehand agreed to fabricate the Navy’s Mk 104 twin rocket motor, which powers the SM-2, SM-3, and SM-6 missiles.
Elsewhere, in December 2024, Ursa Main and Virginia-based Raytheon Applied sciences carried out two flight exams of a long-range 3D printed SRM for the U.S. Military. On the time, Daniel Jablonsky, Ursa Main’s CEO, revealed that additive manufacturing has enabled “unprecedented timelines,” with almost 300 SRM static check fires accomplished in 2024 alone.
Rising adoption of aerospace 3D printing
Additive manufacturing is taking part in a rising position in engine manufacturing, serving to aerospace companies lower lead occasions and allow extra complicated designs.
Earlier this yr, LEAP 71 accelerated its rocket engine program utilizing additive manufacturing. The Dubai-based engineering firm is scaling the event of its meganewton-class propulsion programs, which embody 200 kN aerospike and 2000 kN bell-nozzle designs.
Computational engineering and industrial 3D printing are getting used to create complicated propulsion programs tailor-made for future house missions. LEAP 71’s additive manufacturing know-how is able to 3D printing elements over 1.5 meters tall. This facilitates the direct manufacturing of full-scale, high-thrust 3D printed rocket engine parts.
In different information, it was just lately revealed that 3D printer OEM 3D Techniques’ Direct Steel Printing (DMP) know-how is getting used to 3D print spacecraft engine cooling programs.
The corporate’s Utility Innovation Group (AIG) is working with researchers from Penn State College (PSU), Arizona State College (ASU), and NASA Glenn Analysis Middle to develop thermal administration programs. DMP 3D printing and Oqton’s 3DXpert software program have enabled the group to manufacture high-performance radiators and warmth pipes utilizing titanium and nickel-titanium alloys.
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Featured picture reveals Stratolaunch’s Talon-A2 launch and engine ignition for its first hypersonic flight. Photograph through Stratolaunch.
