Ursa Major and Sirius Technologies, the United States subsidiary of Tokyo-based Innovative Space Carrier (ISC), reached a significant milestone by entering into an agreement for the procurement of ten Ursa Major Hadley, small launch, engines and collaboration on the development of a medium-launch engine scaled from Ursa Major’s Arroway model.
The agreement follows the approval of a technical assistance agreement by the United States Department of State, permitting the export of certain technical data related to the Hadley engine, purchased by ISC and delivered to Sirius Technologies in March 2024, a landmark approval between American and Japanese space technology companies that is among the very first of its kind in over a generation.
“The partnership ISC/Sirius and Ursa Major have forged is a truly special and powerful collaboration between two young, but incredibly agile and innovative companies working together to further safe, cost- effective access to space,” said Ursa Major CEO Dan Jablonsky. “Our teams in Berthoud, Colorado and our advanced manufacturing center of excellence in Youngstown, Ohio are proud to deliver our signature Hadley engines to our ISC/Sirius partner as well as advance the development of medium-launch propulsion technology.”
ISC/Sirius selected Ursa Major as a key enabler to rapidly provide affordable solutions for the development and testing of their ASCA reusable space vehicle in the United States with an expected test launch later in 2025 The proposed development of a medium-launch engine scaled from Ursa Major’s Arroway model, will take place through 2028. During the subsequent phases of development, ISC/Sirius and Ursa Major will incorporate manufacturing improvements, leading toward additional testing activities.
“We’re pleased to announce this milestone agreement with our partner, Ursa Major, as a result of the deepened technical collaboration over the past year since signing a partnership agreement in Japan last April,” said Kojiro Hatada, CEO of Innovative Space Carrier and Kei Shimada, CEO of Sirius Technologies, Inc. “This aligns with the commitment made during the U.S.-Japan summit in February between the two governments to strengthen cooperation in the commercial space sector. We truly believe that advancing concrete collaboration between private companies like ours will deepen the US-Japan relationship further. Moving forward, we will work closely with Ursa Major to achieve our goal of conducting a flight test of ASCA 1.0 in the U.S. later this year.”
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