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But Ursa Major’s first deal wasn’t for a space launcher.

  But Ursa Major’s first deal wasn’t for a space launcher. The 2017 contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory was to supply the company’s Hadley liquid rocket engine for the lab’s X-60A, a hypersonic test vehicle. It turns out the same liquid propulsion systems that provide maneuverability and deep throttle capabilities for rockets are also useful for hypersonic aerial targeting and flight testing. The contract, Laurienti said, broadened his vision for Ursa Major. “Hypersonics fell in our lap,” he told C4ISRNET in an interview. “That, pretty early on, forced us to architect a very dual-use, single engine that could work for space or hypersonics.”
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The Pentagon’s embrace of startups could fuel hypersonic tech

  The Pentagon’s embrace of startups could fuel hypersonic tech WASHINGTON — When Joe Laurienti founded space propulsion company Ursa Major in 2015, he didn’t expect its first contract would come from a Pentagon hypersonics program. It was a pivotal year for the commercial space industry as private funders flocked to space startups in record numbers . At the same time, Congress was pushing the Defense Department to eliminate its dependence on Russian-made rocket engines and invest in domestically produced space launch systems. In that intersection of commercial investment and national security need, Laurienti saw an opportunity. The aerospace engineer, who had worked on propulsion systems for SpaceX and Blue Origin, decided to start a company focused on building engines for space launch vehicles using advanced manufacturing techniques.
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