The brief

Analyst view

• First US flight test of a rotating detonation rocket engine in May 2025, in five years with ~$80M capital.
• Closed $91M Series B in July 2026 led by Mercury Fund and Lockheed Martin Ventures.
• Developing solid-fuel RDRE for defense and dual-mode RDRE-ramjet for commercial hypersonic airliners.

Technical approach

As reported

Detonation

Rotating detonation instead of combustion

A rotating supersonic detonation wave in the combustion chamber replaces subsonic combustion, yielding 15% greater efficiency.

Manufacturing

3D-printed, scalable design

The engine uses 3D-printed components and standard aerospace materials, enabling rapid scaling and lower costs.

Reusability

Throttleable and reusable

The engine design allows throttling for variable thrust and is designed for reuse in space launch applications, reducing per-flight costs.

Multi-purpose

Serves space, defense and aviation

A single core design powers munitions, space launch vehicles, orbital transfer stages and, in a dual-mode variant with a ramjet, hypersonic airliners.

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