The US Air Pressure Analysis Laboratory’s (AFRL) Rocket Propulsion Division at Edwards AFB, California, has awarded Ursa Main (an aerospace and protection firm closely leveraging 3D printing) a $28,565,857 firm-fixed worth contract for responsive area, hypersonic, and on-orbit propulsion. This new contract will observe on from work accomplished to mature superior liquid rocket engines, and can culminate in a flight demonstration.
“Below this contract, Ursa Main serves because the lead integrator for a tactical flight demonstrator that can show the flexibility to make use of a storable liquid rocket system for hypersonic functions,” stated Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Ursa Main. “Due to their tactical configuration, storable liquid rocket engines, like Ursa Main’s Draper, are uniquely positioned to ship to the warfighter a hypersonic functionality that’s manufacturable at scale and at a fraction of the price of alternate options.”
Ursa Main’s Draper propulsion system combines the long-term storable attributes of stable rocket motors with the lively throttle management and prolonged ranges of liquid methods, offering maneuverability, distance, and adaptability wanted for hypersonic functions for warfighters. Developed as a tactical, storable variant of the flight-proven and in-production Hadley system, Draper’s design furthers efficient simulation of hypersonic threats and addresses important gaps in America’s hypersonic capabilities. Draper is a 4,000-pound-thrust closed catalyst cycle system that makes use of non-cryogenic fuels that optimize long-term storability. Because the first profitable hot-firing of the Draper engine in Might 2024, it has subsequently carried out over 200 hot-fires, and this can be its maiden flight.
