Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a privately held liquid rocket engine manufacturer based in Berthoud, Colorado, founded in 2015 by Joe Laurienti, a former SpaceX and Blue Origin propulsion engineer. The company specializes in turbopump-fed liquid oxygen/kerosene engines designed for commercial launch vehicles and hypersonic vehicle applications, positioning itself as a dedicated U.S.-based propulsion supplier that lets launch integrators avoid vertical integration.

Its flagship products are the Hadley engine (a 5,000 lbf-class staged-combustion engine used by operators including Stratolaunch) and Ripley (a 50,000 lbf-class engine intended for medium-lift rockets). The company has also publicly disclosed Draper, a solid-liquid hybrid engine concept aimed at the hypersonic systems market. In 2024 Ursa Major announced "Lynx," a modular solid rocket motor production capability intended to shore up U.S. solid-motor supply for defense customers.

Funding rounds through 2023–2024 from investors including Explorer1 Fund, BlackRock, Eclipse Ventures, and Space Capital have pushed valuations into the hundreds of millions. Government customers include the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and DARPA under hypersonic propulsion contracts. Ursa Major's strategy is to serve both the commercial smallsat-launch market and the U.S. defense propulsion base as a merchant-engine supplier.