E49 – Ursa Major Solid Rocket Motors

In this episode, Mike sits down with Dan Jablonsky, CEO ofUrsa Major, to discuss solid rocket motors and how Ursa Major is doing it differently. Once dominated by just two suppliers, America’s SRM propulsion base has been stretched thin—leaving gaps exposed by today’s conflicts. Dan explains how Ursa Major is tackling that challenge withmodular production, 3D printing, Highly Loaded Grain propellants, and advanced manufacturing using what they’ve learned from their liquid motor product lines. We also talk about the big picture: hypersonics, cruisemissiles, and upcoming programs with RTX (Raytheon), the U.S. Navy (SM-2, SM-3, SM-6), the Army, and Stratolaunch. If you want to understand why missile production is one of the biggest defense challenges of our time—and how new entrants like Ursa Major are building solutions—this episode is for you. Links • Sign up for the newsletter⁠! • Support us on ⁠Patreon⁠! • Ursa Major website • Ursa Major LinkedIn • Ursa Major Instagram • Ursa Major X ---- Follow us on... • LinkedIn • Instagram⁠ • ⁠X⁠ • ⁠Facebook⁠ • ⁠Website⁠ ---- 00:00 00:42 intro 01:04 Ursa Major 02:22 company name 03:48 getting into the SRM business 05:29 SRM industrial base 07:15 doing SRMs differently 09:14 SRM 101 12:07 Highly Loaded Grain 13:08 increasing missile range 15:34 rapid development 16:44 scale with safety 22:25 rapidly adapting SRMs to the threat 23:03 3D printing everything? 24:59 hypersonic motors 27:20 missiles in space 27:47 affordable mass 29:14 outro