Ursa Major partners with JobsOhio to establish Additive Manufacturing and Materials Hub in Youngstown.
Ursa Major Technologies, a private company focusing on rocket propulsion, is establishing a new research-and-development center in Youngstown, Ohio to advance additive manufacturing and materials development for liquid rocket engines and solid rocket motors.
The center represents a capital investment of $14.5 million, which includes $4 million in assistance in the form of a JobsOhio R&D Grant. Ursa Major worked closely with JobsOhio network partner Team NEO to secure funding for the expansion, which will be in the new Lake to River region.
The R&D center marks an expansion for Ursa Major in Ohio, where the company already 3D prints hardware for propulsion systems. In the coming years, the company will expand its workforce from three to eighteen people.
Ursa Major has stated that it is expanding its R&D efforts to meet a rapidly growing portfolio of U.S. Department of Defense development contracts, with liquid rocket engines and solid rocket motors powering high-performance munitions, hypersonic weapons, in-space propulsion systems and space launch platforms.
“The new R&D center in Youngstown takes advantage of Ohio’s manufacturing heritage and uniquely skilled workforce to advance manufacturing in service to our national security,” said Ursa Major CEO Joe Laurienti in a press release. “Raw material access, supply chain, and a vibrant additive manufacturing ecosystem as a result of the America Makes program make Youngstown an ideal home for this center.”
“Ursa Major’s R&D center plans in the Mahoning Valley represent Ohio’s strong aerospace and manufacturing legacy and how this state is driving the future of how things are made in America and worldwide,” said JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef in the same release. “Innovation from Mahoning County is rapidly advancing additive manufacturing technology, and Ursa Major’s investment is an example of how that attracts extraordinary companies.”
The new center will be located in Boardman, with the aim of accelerating new material development and qualification processes for aerospace applications of additive manufacturing. This includes developing metallic alloys for solid rocket motors and development of copper and nickel alloys for liquid rocket engines. Ursa Major has stated that the center will be home to multiple laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) 3D printers.
