Ursa Major makes more money. Aerospace and defense startup Ursa Major Technologies has secured a $600 million valuation in a new fundraising round, the latest sign that investors are willing to back companies developing new missile technologies. Bloomberg reports this.. Colorado-based Ursa Major has completed its Series E fundraising round with investments from venture capital firms Eclipse, Woodline Partners, Principia Growth, XN and Alwaysop Louie Partners. The company also received $50 million in debt financing. Ursa Major is best known as a supplier of liquid propellant rocket motors and solid rocket motors for a range of commercial and government vehicles.
Hypersonic tailwind … Ursa Major says it can supply the U.S. industrial base with propulsion systems faster and cheaper than legacy contractors can supply. “The company will quickly introduce its regulated, storable, liquid-propellant hypersonic and space defense solution, while also scaling its solid rocket motors and sustainable space vehicle manufacturing capabilities,” Ursa Major said in a press release. Its clients include BAE Systems, which will use Ursa Major solid rocket motors to power military-grade tactical missiles, and Stratolaunch, which will use Ursa Major's liquid Hadley rocket motor for its Talon-A hypersonic spaceplane.
Rocket Lab celebrates two launches in 48 hours. Rocket Lab launched a payload for an undisclosed commercial client on Thursday, just hours after the company announced launch plans. This is reported by Space News.. The launch from Rocket Lab's main launch site in New Zealand used an Electron rocket, but officials provided little more information about the mission beyond its nickname: “Follow My Speed.” An artist's illustration of the mission patch indicates the payload could be the next in a line of Earth-imaging satellites from remote sensing company BlackSky, although the company's previous satellites were not launched with such secrecy.
Two hemispheres … Thursday's launch from the Southern Hemisphere came just two days after Rocket Lab's previous mission lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia. The flight was a suborbital launch to support a hypersonic technology demonstration for the Defense Innovation Division and the Missile Defense Agency. In total, Rocket Lab has launched 18 Electron rockets this year with a 100 percent success rate, a company record.
