Venus Aerospace on Wednesday said that Airbus Ventures has joined the company’s team of investors, providing additional fuel to move its new rocket engine from the lab to the prototype stage.
Houston-based Venus has developed what it says is the “world’s first liquid-propellant detonation rocket engine (RDRE), which the company also says offers “a double-digit percentage increase in efficiency over standard regular engines, making the hypersonic economy possible.” In October 2022, Venus said it was the first company to get room temperature storable liquid fuels to operate in an RDRE.
Venus already has contracts with NASA and the Defense Department to accelerate the development of the RDRE for government missions. The startup is developing hypersonic drones and passenger aircraft.
“With the strong support of Airbus Ventures now joining our investor syndicate, our next round will let Venus take the final step from lab to prototype as we fly our drone to Mach 3 under RDRE power,” Andrew Duggleby, chief technology officer and co-founder of Venus, said in a statement. “This will include long duration engine runs this summer at Spaceport Houston, as well as the design, build, and flight of our drone with the broader Venus team and our incredible partners.”
Airbus Ventures, which is based in Silicon Valley, is an independent entity of Europe’s Airbus Group.
“In the world of RDREs, their pioneering approach—designing, building, and demonstrating the first liquid, storable-propellant fueled rotating detonation rocket engine—unlocks advanced aircraft capabilities and opens new vistas on our whole planetary system,” Thomas d’Halluin, managing partner at Airbus Ventures, said in a statement about Venus. “Venus’ compact, low mass, high efficiency engine capability will have an immediate impact on lunar and Martian landers, space mobility and logistics, and deep space mission proposals. Here on Earth today, we will see unprecedented performance gains for drones of all kinds, and more practical and faster-than-anticipated opportunities for ultra-high-sped passenger and cargo rocket plane flights.”
A year ago, Venus raised $20 million in a Series A funding round.