Ursa Major wins $4 million for 3D-printed rocket engines

BERTHOUD, Colo. — Ursa Major, a Colorado-based rocket propulsion startup said Monday it has landed a follow-on contract award from America Makes to qualify its copper additive manufacturing process for hypersonic flight.

Under the contract, America Makes — the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute — would invest $4 million and Ursa Major would put $1 million toward maturing the production readiness of Ursa Major’s 3D printing process for making Draper and Hadley rocket engines that could be used in space vehicles that travel faster than the speed of sound, the rocket engine maker said Monday.

Over the next 21 months, Ursa Major will use its third America Makes contract award to move its copper additive manufacturing capability into flight-qualified hardware for the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, the startup said.

“America Makes has been a trusted partner for the past three years, allowing Ursa Major to create high-quality and scalable systems in our Advanced Manufacturing Lab in Youngstown, Ohio,” Nick Doucette, chief operations officer for Ursa Major, said in a statement. 

> Read the full story at the Denver Business Journal.