Ursa Major
A report from Reuters has claimed that the Pentagon is close to giving a contract for new rocket motors to the privately-held start-up Ursa Major, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Ursa Major uses 3D printing to create rocket engines and motors.
The report says that the contract, expected to be small and to fall under the Pentagon’s development programs, would be a big vote of confidence in Ursa Major. Reuters says that officials are seeking more suppliers beyond Northrop Grumman, and L3 Harris Technologies, two of the leading rocket engine makers.
Heidu Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering told Congress in mid-February 2024: “As soon as I get the FY (fiscal year) ’24 budget I am going to drop it on a small company that is going to do additive manufacturing of a solid rocket motor.”
Reuters says that a congressional aide and an industry executive who spoke on condition of anonymity said Shyu was referring to Ursa Major. Reuters stated that a representative of Ursa Major declined to comment to them, and the Pentagon also declined further comment on the possible award.
The company raised 138 million USD in Series D and D-1 funding rounds in 2023. TCT spoke to Ursa Major in early 2024 for the first edition of the year of TCT Magazine about what this significant investment means for the start-up this year, with Chief Operating Officer Nick Doucette saying: “The additive industry continues to evolve and provide new solutions for companies like Ursa. We see progress in two key areas that will be important for Ursa in 2024: large volume platforms and high production throughput capabilities.
“Large platform printing has seen advances in the past few years at OEMs. The limitations, however have been material choice and part consistency. Most OEMs have invested in solving those problems which benefits our larger liquid engines. Larger engines typically use older manufacturing methods due to their size (casting, welding etc), but these larger additive machines can print them in single pieces, thus reducing lead times while increasing part performance. We will lean heavily into this during 2024.
“High production printing, while it uses large print beds, presents a different challenge: per part costs at volume. Support structures, high volume part consistency, and repeatability are key focus areas. Ursa Major, along with OEMs and new entrants are transforming high volume production printing, for use in our solid rocket motors which demand higher rates than our liquid engines. We will continue to invest in the additive industry during 2024 and use the technology to deploy propulsion where it is needed most.”
The original report from Reuters was published on February 20.
