New Rocket Engine Introduced by U.S. Propulsion Company Ursa Major
A new rocket engine intended to replace Russian-made propulsion systems that are no longer available has been introduced by U.S. propulsion company Ursa Major.
"Launch organizations should consider whether they have the in-house experience, expertise, time, money, test facilities, and organizational fortitude to build their own engines."
Jeff Thornburg, former SpaceX propulsion executive and Ursa Major advisor.
Arroway is a 200,000-pound thrust liquid oxygen and methane staged combustion engine that will serve markets including current U.S. national security missions, commercial satellite launches, orbital space stations, and future missions not yet conceived. The reusable Arroway engine is available for order now, slated for initial hot-fire testing in 2023, and delivery in 2025.
Notably, this new rocket engine will be one of very few commercially available engines that, when clustered together, can displace the Russian-made RD-180 and RD-181, which are no longer available to U.S. launch companies.
"Arroway is America's engine of the future," said Joe Laurienti, founder and CEO of Ursa Major. "Medium and heavy launch capacity is what U.S. launchers desperately need right now, and because Ursa Major focuses solely on propulsion, we're in a unique position to deliver high-performing, reliable, and affordable engines to meet the increasing market demand, just like we are doing with 'Hadley' and 'Ripley'."
Arroway uses a fuel-rich staged combustion architecture with liquid oxygen and methane propellants. Ursa Major designed the components and their arrangement so that most of the new rocket engine can be 3D printed. This approach allows for rapid iteration during the development process as well as efficient scaling of production to meet market demand.
The company says that liquid methane offers the following advantages:
Cleaner-burning, more efficient, and lower cost than kerosene
Offers flexible architecture options to optimize for reusability
Increasing market adoption in the launch industry
Ursa Major's other engines include "Hadley," a 5,000-pound thrust, oxygen-rich staged combustion engine, and the 50,000-pound thrust "Ripley" engine. Hadley was the first American-made oxygen-rich staged combustion engine to be hot fire tested.
With Ursa Major's experience making flexible rocket engines that can be used for a range of missions, from air launch, to hypersonic flight, to on-orbit missions with many restarts, its customers get to launch many years faster at a low price and without the development cost of building engines in-house.
"Arroway is the rocket engine that the industry needs, and Ursa Major is the right company to build it," said Jeff Thornburg, former SpaceX propulsion executive and Ursa Major advisor. "Launch organizations should consider whether they have the in-house experience, expertise, time, money, test facilities, and organizational fortitude to build their own engines. Ursa Major has demonstrated all of that, and the result is a more rapid and robust product to market. The growing space industry is just starting to learn how difficult propulsion development can be and how long it really takes to qualify hardware in-house, which presents an incredible opportunity for Arroway to serve the industry."
(Images provided with Ursa Major news release)