Launcher (Vast)

Launcher was a Hawthorne, California startup founded in 2017 by Max Haot that pioneered copper alloy 3D-printed rocket engine technology before being acquired by Vast (Jed McCaleb's space station startup) in 2023. Launcher's founding innovation was demonstrating that high-performance liquid rocket engines could be manufactured via directed energy deposition (DED) additive manufacturing of copper-chrome-zirconium alloys — enabling complex internal cooling channel geometries impossible with conventional machining and dramatically reducing engine production time and cost. Their E-2 engine achieved 20,000 lbf thrust in a regeneratively-cooled design using liquid oxygen and RP-1 kerosene, with turbopump hardware developed in collaboration with subcontractors and tested at a leased test facility in Mojave. Launcher was developing the Launcher Light small launch vehicle — a two-stage rocket targeting 150 kg to SSO — before the pivot to the Orbiter space tug product, which provides last-mile orbital delivery from rideshare launch slots: launched as a hosted payload on a SpaceX Transporter mission, Orbiter deploys customer satellites from any rideshare orbit to their precise target orbit using an onboard electric propulsion system and ample propellant, eliminating the orbit mismatch penalty of rideshare launches. Vast acquired Launcher's team, technology, and Orbiter product line to accelerate propulsion and structural manufacturing capabilities for Vast's Haven commercial space station program — integrating Launcher's copper 3D-printing expertise into station module pressure vessel fabrication. The Orbiter space tug product continues operations under Vast, competing with D-Orbit's Ion SCV, Momentus Vigoride, and Exolaunch as an orbital transfer vehicle for constellation deployment.