Ursa Major wins $34.9M contract for Draper space rocket engine
Ursa Major Technologies Inc, headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, USA, has been awarded a $34.9 million contract from an undisclosed US aerospace and defence company to deliver Draper engines and associated services. The effort will accelerate development, production, and deployment of Draper for critical national security applications in space and ultimately validate the engine’s performance and flexibility under operational conditions.
Draper is a tactical, storable liquid rocket engine designed for hypersonic missions, rapid response applications, and in-space manoeuvrability. It is said to offer the same launch readiness and storability of a solid rocket motor, with the added benefits of restart capability, throttle control, and precise manoeuvrability with the flexibility to support new mission profiles.
With nearly two-thirds of Draper’s components produced using Additive Manufacturing, and a relatively low part count, Ursa Major stated that the American-made Draper engine was designed with affordable production at every stage of its development.
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“As adversaries increase their activity in space and missile defence becomes more multidomain, Draper provides the responsiveness, control, and flexibility required for the US to defend against emerging threats,” said Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Ursa Major. “As a high-speed, affordable mass propulsion system, Draper represents a paradigm shift in defence propulsion on land, at sea, in the air, and now, in space.”
The award builds on Draper’s rapid development timeline and follows a $28.6 million contract from the US Air Force Research Laboratory to demonstrate the engine in flight by the end of this calendar year, highlighting Ursa Major’s focus on rapid, production-ready engine design. Under that contract, Ursa Major is serving as lead integrator for a tactical flight demonstrator that will showcase Draper’s use for hypersonic applications.
Draper operates on non-cryogenic, non-toxic propellants and uses a closed catalyst cycle. Successfully hot-fire tested more than 250 times, Draper is said to be safe, reusable, storable for at least 10 years, and designed from the ground up using Additive Manufacturing to accelerate timelines while lowering cost and complexity.
