Ursa Major's Hadley engine achieves sustained hypersonic speeds

Ursa Major's Hadley liquid rocket engine designed for commercial space and national security needs, successfully achieved sustained hypersonic speeds during two separate tests conducted since late 2024. Both test flights exceeded flight and power objectives for Stratolaunch's Talon-A2 (TA-2) testbed and also featured the successful recovery of the hypersonic testbed vehicle post-landing for re-use.

"With these successful sustained hypersonic flights, Ursa Major and Stratolaunch are pushing the boundaries of hypersonic technology and building a track record of achievement. Ursa Major is answering the call from our military and government partners to innovate and meet the mission to provide critical national security capabilities, while continuing to assert ourselves as a hypersonics category leader for the warfighter," said Ursa Major CEO Dan Jablonsky.

Hadley is a 5,000-pound-thrust (lbf) liquid oxygen and kerosene, oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle reusable rocket engine for small vehicles or hypersonic applications. In addition to the two recent hypersonic flights, Hadley flew its first successful flight, achieving high supersonic speeds with Stratolaunch, completing three successful flights in one calendar year. Hadley enables the U.S. Department of Defense to field new mission solutions faster and advances performance metrics of speed, range, and payload.

Hadley is the first product in a family of propulsion systems, including liquid rocket engines, solid rocket motors, and in-space propulsion systems, being designed, developed, and produced by Ursa Major.