Ripley Engine Hotfire Test Campaign Completed
The Ripley engine hotfire test campaign has been completed by Ursa Major. The test campaign showed the re-engineered integrated Ripley engine—including turbomachinery, oxidizer-rich preburner, and additive-manufactured copper thrust chamber assembly—firing as a complete system in flight-like conditions.
"The new 50,000-pound-thrust design is in response to growing market demand for this medium-lift thrust class."
Brad Appel, Chief Technology Officer at Ursa Major.
Ripley has the highest "Specific Impulse," or Isp, a measurement of fuel economy, of any American kerosene rocket engine in history.
"This hotfire test campaign is a critical milestone for Ripley as we move into full-scale development and production," said Brad Appel, Chief Technology Officer at Ursa Major. "The new 50,000-pound-thrust design is in response to growing market demand for this medium-lift thrust class."
Customers using the Ripley engine will save years of time and millions of dollars while benefiting from best-in-class performance and reliability, according to Ursa Major.
Thrust Improvements Made on the Ripley Engine
The first iteration of the Ripley engine hotfired in 2021 with 35,000 pounds of thrust. Ursa Major increased the thrust to 50,000 pounds to better suit medium-class launch vehicles.
Ursa Major tests its engines at its one-of-a-kind facility in Berthoud, Colorado, which houses engine design, manufacturing, and testing all in one place. To date, Ursa Major engines have accumulated more than 60,000 seconds of run-time.
Unlike other propulsion systems, Ursa Major engines are designed to be used on multiple vehicles and for various use cases, creating efficiencies that help customers get to launch faster without relying on foreign-made technology or incurring the high cost of building engines in-house.
Headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, Ursa Major is a privately-funded American company focusing solely on rocket propulsion, bringing high-performance, staged combustion engines to market for space launch and hypersonic applications. The company currently has its 5,000 lbf Hadley engine in production, and is also developing a 200,000 lbf engine dubbed Arroway in development.
(Source: Ursa Major news release. Images provided)