Venus Aerospace secures Lockheed's venture backing

Venus Aerospace, a five-year-old developer of rocket engine propulsion technologies, has secured an investment from Lockheed Martin’s venture capital arm with an eye toward further scaling its production of the systems.

Venus’ flagship offering is its rotating detonation rocket engine, which is designed to be reusable and throttleable as a way to allow for launch cost reductions and mission flexibility for payloads.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Venus and Lockheed formally announced the investment Wednesday at the Axios Future of Defense Summit in Washington, D.C.

In May, Venus conducted the first high-thrust test flight of its engine at Spaceport America in New Mexico that involved the use of supersonic explosions to create thrust. The idea behind that technique is to help propel and power hypersonic systems in the future.

“With support from Lockheed Martin Ventures, we will advance our capabilities to deliver at scale and deploy the engine that will power the next 50 years of defense, space, and commercial high-speed aviation,” Venus’ co-founder and CEO Sassie Duggleby said in a release.

Susie founded Houston-headquartered Venus in 2020 alongside her husband Andrew, who works as the company’s chief technology officer.

Power and propulsion is one of a dozen focus areas for Lockheed Martin Ventures, whose investments in that domain over the past two years include Helicity Space and Agile Space Industries.

“Lockheed Martin has long believed in supporting transformational technologies at their earliest stage,” said Chris Moran, executive director and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Our investment in Venus Aerospace reflects a conviction that next-generation propulsion will define which nations lead in space and defense for decades to come. We are committed to helping Venus scale this technology and integrate it into critical systems.”

Below is a Venus-produced video of the test at Spaceport America.