Ursa Major, a startup that produces rocket motors through 3D printing, announced today that it received a $12.5 million contract from the Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) and the U.S. Navy to develop new solid-fuel rocket engines. The company, which has raised $274 million according to PitchBook, will match the funding, bringing the money allocated for the effort to $25 million.
The $12.5 million investment also marks the first publicly announced funding from the OSC, which has been mired in congressional red tape since its launch in 2022. The office is designed to attract more private capital to defense tech, but struggled to get its proposed $144 million budget through Congress.
The Navy’s investment shows the government’s desire for innovations in rocket motor production: Right now, only a couple defense companies can produce solid rocket motors — a major problem now that the war in Ukraine has stretched the U.S.’s supply of solid rocket motors thin. Bill Murray, Ursa Major’s chief product officer, said the motors that “we have to replace will take anywhere between five and 18 years at the current rate of production,” Murray said. “It really boils down to relying on outdated production techniques.”
Murray said that a traditional manufacturing process can take over a year, whereas Ursa Major can make them in less than a month. This is because Ursa Major relies heavily on 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, to streamline the production of complicated parts and allow contractors to iterate on designs faster. Basically, imagine a rocket motor part that usually requires dozens of parts to be welded together. With 3D printing, the part can be produced as one solid piece.
The company, founded in 2015, has landed government contracts in the past, like last year when U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded it a contract to develop an engine for hypersonic launch.
Murray said the investment shows the military’s commitment to supporting innovation technology. “It’s the Navy saying that they want a startup to come in and help shape the industry for the future,” he said.