Rocket engine developer Ursa Major on Thursday said it has raised $138 million in two funding rounds this year to further development of its new process for manufacturing solid rocket motors (SRMs) and to scale production capacity and advance its liquid propulsion engines for space and hypersonic applications.
The $138 million includes a Series D round concluded earlier this year and a Series D-1 round due to strong interest to accelerate development of the company’s products. The investments were led by Explorer 1 Fund and Eclipse, and include RTX’s [RTX] RTX Ventures, BlackRock, Exor Ventures, Mack & Co., LLC, XN, and institutional shareholders.
In November, Ursa Major introduced Lynx, an additive manufacturing approach to producing different size SRMs at scale and lower costs to meet growing demand for missiles. A single Lynx production cell can 3D print more than 1,600 motor casing per year for weapons like the shoulder-fired Javelin anti-tank system, or produce in a year the components for 260 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, which the U.S. is providing Ukrainian forces with great effects against Russian invaders.
SRMs are a new product area for Ursa Major, which previously was focused on liquid rocket engines.
“In the year since our last funding round, Ursa Major has secured significant commercial and government customers, delivered dozens of flight-ready engines, introduced new engine concepts, and worked to address critical gaps in our nation’s defense,” Joe Laurienti, the startup’s founder and CEO, said in statement. “This includes developing Lynx, a line of solid rocket motors that can delivery urgently needed capabilities. This investment will support scaling our production capacity to meet strong market demand, as well as continued technology innovation for our medium- and our heavy-weight propulsion systems.”
In addition to introducing Lynx, in the last year Ursa Major has introduced its Draper storable liquid engine that has applications for tactical hypersonics, missile defense, and in-space propulsion. The company also redesigned and hot-fired its 50,000-pound thrust Ripely liquid rocket engine that is designed for small and medium commercial launch vehicle applications, scaled production of its 5,000-pound Hadley liquid engine to one per week, and qualified Hadley as the first and only engine for space launch, in-space, and hypersonic missions.