US aerospace company Ursa Major has successfully carried out the first hot-fire tests of its upgraded Hadley H13 liquid rocket engine.
The H13 engine is the newest version of the company’s flight-proven Hadley rocket engine family. It introduces improved materials, updated manufacturing techniques, and greater reusability compared with earlier variants.
According to officials, the new engine will support both hypersonic flight systems and small launch vehicles, while lowering the overall cost of rocket operations.
The Hadley H13 is an upgraded version of the Hadley H11 engine, which has already flown on hypersonic missions.
Ursa Major designed the H13 to deliver better durability and performance while also expanding the types of missions it can support.
“Hadley is Ursa Major’s foundational engine that has already flown hypersonic several times,” said Chris Spagnoletti, CEO of Ursa Major.
“With new materials and manufacturing, H13 can be reused more than twice as many times as earlier variants,” he said. “That helps reduce the cost per flight and supports new test objectives and mission profiles.”
The company believes the improved reusability will make hypersonic testing more affordable and frequent.
The H13 engine includes several design upgrades compared to earlier models. Engineers introduced new materials to increase durability and extend engine life. These changes allow the engine to operate longer and survive multiple flights.
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Ursa Major has also moved to produce many key components internally. By manufacturing major parts in-house, the company aims to control costs and speed up production.
Much of the engine is built using additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. This method allows engineers to reduce the number of parts and simplify complex designs. The company said this approach helps streamline production while improving performance.
Earlier versions of the Hadley engine often required custom development for specific missions. This meant longer development timelines and delays.
With the H13, Ursa Major has taken a different approach. The company has standardized the design to create a productized engine that can be used in multiple applications.
This allows the engine to be delivered faster for missions involving hypersonic vehicles or small launch systems. The goal is to provide an off-the-shelf liquid rocket engine for urgent testing or operational needs.
The Hadley engine family is already known for powering hypersonic flight tests. Hypersonic vehicles travel at speeds above Mach 5, which is more than five times the speed of sound.
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Hadley engines have already powered flights of Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic vehicle, which reached sustained hypersonic speeds during testing.
These missions demonstrated that the propulsion system could support repeated hypersonic flights.
The new H13 version aims to improve reliability for future missions.
The Hadley rocket engine produces 5,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. Its vacuum-optimized variant can generate up to 6,500 pounds of thrust in space-like conditions.
The engine uses liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene as propellants. It operates using an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle, a design known for delivering high efficiency and strong performance.
About 80 percent of the engine is built using additive manufacturing, which speeds up production and reduces the number of components.
This manufacturing approach allows engineers to quickly adjust designs and test improvements.
Ursa Major says the Hadley H13 engine will support a wide range of missions..These include hypersonic weapons testing, experimental aircraft, and small satellite launch vehicles.
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The company believes affordable and reusable propulsion systems are essential for both defense programs and commercial space missions.
By lowering testing costs, the engine could accelerate the development of hypersonic technologies.
Ursa Major is an American aerospace and defense company focused on rocket propulsion systems. The company is headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, with additional manufacturing operations in Youngstown, Ohio.
It develops propulsion technologies for hypersonic vehicles, solid rocket motors, and space launch systems. Its goal is to strengthen the defense industrial base and provide faster access to advanced propulsion systems.
With the successful testing of the Hadley H13 engine, the company has taken another step toward delivering more reliable and cost-effective propulsion for future hypersonic and space missions.
