We're joined today by Joe Laurienti, CEO of Ursa Major, a Colorado upstart building high-performing rocket engines for space launch and hypersonics vehicles. Joe shares a space scoop with us about a new deal that Ursa has struck with a secretive, thought-to-be-dead rocket developer; and also gives us the full rundown on Ursa Major. Today’s episode is brought to you by Kepler Communications, a company bringing the internet to space.
Joe Laurienti is the CEO and cofounder of Ursa Major, a company that builds and sells propulsion products for A) launch, B) hypersonics, and C) in-space transportation.
Joe cut his teeth at SpaceX and Blue Origin before setting out on his own and starting Ursa Major in 2015. The Colorado company raised $85M in December 2021 and started ramping engine production last year. It has two bigger, badder beasts in the works: Ripley, Hadley’s bigger sister, is 10X more powerful. Arroway, which is further out, is a 200,000-pound thrust, liquid oxygen and methane staged combustion engine.
On today’s show, Joe and Ryan talk about the startup’s primary products; its origin story; and how big of a market Ursa Major believes it’s going after.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Kepler Communications, a company bringing the internet to space.
Joe joins Pathfinder with a surprise, and a space scoop: Ursa Major has struck a deal to supply Vector Launch with “several” propulsion systems, he tells Pathfinder. Ursa’s Hadley engines will power the main stage of the Vector-R launch vehicle in future demonstration missions. Vector is a seven-year-old startup that's raised more than $180M to date but had to declare bankruptcy in 2020. The thought-to-be-dead rocket developer is in fact not dead, and last October, tweeted a photo of its Vector-R, with strong “rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated” vibes.
Landing page — https://www.ursamajor.com/
Jobs — https://www.ursamajor.com/careers
Culture — https://www.ursamajor.com/culture
Arroway — https://payloadspace.com/ursa-major-unveils-arroway/
April 2022 interview — https://payloadspace.com/ursa-major-scales/
Twitter — https://twitter.com/ursamajortech
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/ursamajortech/
Ryan's socials — https://twitter.com/Ryandoofy / https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfduffy/
Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace
Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_uY3GaNf67hP-i6TRWF2n06xMv1kdkZ6
Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes
This info is provided by Ursa Major. Find out more at ursamajor.com/engines.
"Our engines are optimized to offer high performance, diverse capability, and unwavering reliability — all at a competitive price." The engines feature:
Hadley, Ursa Major's engine that's currently in production, has 5,000 lbf of thrust @ sea level, runs on lox and kerosene, and is designed for low Earth orbit, geostationary orbit, in-space propulsion, and hypersonics systems.
Ripley, which is in development, has 50,000 lbf of thrust @ sea level, also runs on lox and kerosene, and is designed for LEO and GEO. Arroway, which is earlier in the R&D phase, has 200,000 lbf of thrust; runs on lox and methane; and is designed for medium and heavy boost launch vehicles.