The Air Force Research Laboratory last Thursday awarded Ursa Major a $28.6 million contract to served as the integrator of a tactical flight demonstrator that will be powered by the company’s Draper liquid rocket engine, which is safely storable like a solid rocket motor but provides the flexible capabilities and range of liquid engines.
The Colorado-based startup is working toward an initial flight test later this year, Ben Nicholson, Ursa Major’s chief growth officer, told Defense Daily last Friday. It is a “high-priority” for the Air Force, he said, describing the schedule as “sporty” and noting that “the fact that they want us to fly this year that that tells you a lot.”
The first flight, which will also be the first time Draper flies, will be below hypersonic speeds and will prove flight, safety, and capability of the tactical demonstrator, Nicholson said. From there “we will be ramping up to hypersonic speed,” Nicholson said.
The 4,000-pound thrust Draper is based on the company’s more exquisite Hadley liquid rocket engine, which has flown multiple times at hypersonic speeds and has provided lessons that give Ursa Major confidence going into the tactical demonstrator flight this year. Both engines feature about 80 percent of their parts printed using additive manufacturing but Draper is a simpler engine with “a lot fewer parts” that is “designed for producibility and scalability,” Nicholson said.
Draper was developed at the behest of the Air Force to come up with a liquid rocket engine that can be safely stored—it is fueled by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene which are stable at room temperature—but can be throttled up and down, and turned off and on like other liquid engines. The engine also features maneuverability and offers the range advantages of liquid engines.
“And what that means is you can effectively loiter and then accelerate and change speeds and trajectories, making it very, very difficult for the adversary to counter that,” Nicholson said.
Hadley is fueled by cryogenic oxygen, which requires more infrastructure to support prior to use, he said.
“Under this contract, Ursa Major serves as the lead integrator for a tactical flight demonstrator that will prove the ability to use a storable liquid rocket system for hypersonic applications,” Dan Jablonsky, Ursa Major’s CEO, said in a statement. “Because of their tactical configuration, storable liquid rocket engines, like Ursa Major’s Draper, are uniquely positioned to deliver to the warfighter a hypersonic capability that is manufacturable at scale and at a fraction of the cost of alternatives.”
The lead integrator is a new role and a “paradigm shift” for the company, going beyond the engine to include marrying the guidance system and materials together, Nicholson said.
The Air Force initially obligated $4.5 million under the fixed-price contract, which it said is for “responsive space, hypersonic, and on-orbit propulsion.” The work is expected to be completed in January 2027.
In May 2024, Ursa Major had hot-fired Draper more than 50 times under a contract with the Air Force and now it has exceeded 200 hot-firings (Defense Daily, May 30, 2024). Nicholson said the 3D printing used for most of the engine allows for design and part modifications to be made quickly and tested.
The all-up round that Ursa Major will integrate Draper with resembles a missile as shown in an artist’s rendering. The company is currently not disclosing its teammates.