Propulsion documentary tells the story of Ursa Major
And how the company is using AM to reiterate and develop hypersonic engines, like the new Draper, faster than ever
Ursa Major is the leading independent rocket propulsion provider and a critical player in building the defense industrial base in the United States. As the first American company to fire and fly an oxygen-rich staged combustion engine—a milestone previously only achieved by Russian engine-makers—Ursa Major provides reusable, high-performing propulsion systems to commercial space enterprises, defense contractors, and the Department of Defense for launch, hypersonic, and national security missions.
The company employs the country’s leading propulsion experts at its one-of-a-kind headquarters in Berthoud, Colorado, which houses engineering, manufacturing, and test operations all in one campus. Ursa Major’s first propulsion system, Hadley, is a 5,000 lbf ox-rich staged combustion liquid rocket engine that powers multiple hypersonic test programs in the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) program. Ursa Major now applies its expertise to solid rocket motors to bolster the industrial base and provide propulsion where the nation needs it most.
This short film shows how critical propulsion is in every aspect of people’s lives but also in the increasingly complex geopolitical scenario. Ursa Major’s latest project Draper (named after the Bobbie Draper character from The Expanse) is a storable liquid engine in development under an Air Force Research Laboratory contract. Built on the manufacturing heritage of the previous Hadley engine, it is a revolutionary new engine designed for hypersonic defense, in-space propulsion, and rapid launch.
Draper is a 4,000-pound-thrust closed catalyst cycle engine that uses storable hydrogen-peroxide/kerosene propellant, making it ideal for vehicles that need to launch on demand. Draper contains architectural and manufacturing heritage from the Hadley engine, but unlike Hadley, it doesn’t require cryogenic conditions for its fuel.
Draper bears the storable characteristics of a solid motor with the higher performance and maneuverability of a liquid engine. Those qualities allow it to better simulate hypersonic threats as a target vehicle, which is a critical gap in America’s hypersonic capabilities today.
Solid rocket motors have traditionally powered the vehicles used for testing missile defense systems, but they cannot change thrust in real-time to actively throttle and respond to changing conditions. With adversarial hypersonic weapons becoming increasingly complex and erratic, liquid rocket engines provide active throttle control and throttle range, giving them the maneuverability and flexibility needed for hypersonic defense.
