Canadian launch company Reaction Dynamics (RDX) has made progress in the last year, and is looking to hit key milestones in 2025. They shared insights on some of those milestones, including new details on their Aurora-8 launch vehicle, in a recent LinkedIn post and discussed participation in a recent event in another post that may impact the company’s target customers going forward.
As seen in previous SpaceQ coverage, RDX’s streaming debut is taking place on Meet The Drapers on February 21st, where Director of Business Development Jesse Mikelberg will be pitching the company to venture capitalist Tim Draper, to potentially win a USD$1 million prize. Footage of their appearance was posted on their LinkedIn a few days ago.
If they win, it will be happening at a critical time for the company. They’ve been busily developing their small Aurora launch vehicle, which features the RE-101 and RE-102 hybrid rocket engines. The engines are built using additive manufacturing (3D printing), and use a unique combination of liquid oxidant and a non-toxic, low-carbon pelletized fuel made out of recycled plastics – fuel that RDX developed themselves. The first suborbital launch of Aurora, using the Aurora-1 vehicle, is scheduled to take place in Australia later this year.
In addition, the company has been developing an in-space propulsion version of their engine, and a small orbital transfer vehicle called Micro OTV that is “designed for cubesat and smallsat mobility”. While details are still somewhat limited, RDX said on their site that “the RDX Micro OTV has the highest total impulse of any system of its size, enabling smallsats to go further than ever before.” This will, they anticipate, will deliver payloads to working orbits “within a 6-day deployment window, instead of the 6 months typically required”.
RDX at NATO accelerator
This accompanies a new angle on their technology mentioned in a December LinkedIn announcement of their participation in the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) accelerator program. In the announcement, they highlighted a unique competitive advantage of their hybrid-fuel design, which is that “its unique capability to be stockpiled and stored for extended duration” could “deliver a new responsive launch capability to NATO member states”.
In January, RDX announced the results of its participation as one of seven Canadian companies in the DIANA accelerator. The company attended as part of the “Critical Infrastructure” group.
RDX said that the gathering in Halifax, at the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) “provided great opportunities to engage with diverse stakeholders and mentors within the NATO ecosystem”, including both representatives from DND and “companies embedded in the local defence sector”, including extensive discussions “on the development and commercialization of dual-use technologies” like the Aurora launch vehicle. They also said that they anticipate that the event would help with “driving our growth within the defence market”.
There was also apparently funding related to involvement in NATO DIANA, through the NATO Innovation Fund, but neither RDX nor NATO appeared to publish those numbers.
RDX accomplishments in 2024
Their other LinkedIn announcement, made last week, looked over RDX’s accomplishments in 2024.
Pointing to RDX’s “transition from pure R&D to revenue generation and commercial deployment”, the announcement reinforced their positioning within the North American (and NATO) defence ecosystem. In particular, RDX highlighted how they have become “one of the few non-U.S. entities approved as a Department of Defense (DoD) SBIR subcontractor”, which they claimed as a “testament” to the strategic value of their technology.
RDX also noted that “2024 marks the year we secured all 3 of our filed USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) rocket technology patents”, which was called “the culmination of five years of rigorous dialogue and negotiation.” RDX celebrated the approval as having “immense significance”, one that “reinforc[ed] our position as a leading innovator in the aerospace industry”. They also noted two key “infrastructure milestones”: their arrangement of a suborbital Aurora-1 launch with Southern Launch in Australia, and the actual orbital launch of the Aurora-8 at Maritime Launch Services’ Spaceport Nova Scotia.
On the financial front, they pointed to the CSA and NRC funding that they received. RDX said that it combined with other funding–including unspecified funding related to the NATO DIANA accelerator–to bring their total funding to about $4.8 million CAD.
As to the research and development paid for by that funding, they noted several key milestones: full development of the RE-101 engine, which “validat[ed] the performance of our regeneratively cooled nozzle — a first in hybrid rocket propulsion”, as well as successful testing of the RE-102 flight engine.
Notably, however, RDX also revealed “a major milestone in our journey to orbit”: the commencement of qualification testing for their RE-202B rocket engine. The RE-202B is the engine, they said, that will serve as the “propulsion core of our Aurora-8 orbital program”, and has already had “a successful 15-second hot-fire test”.
Eight RE-202B engines will power the first stage of the Aurora-8, and two more RE-202B engines will power the second stage. With this stage of testing, they said, “this rocket engine is now closer than ever to achieving full orbital capability.” They posted a video of the RE-202B hot fire test in a separate LinkedIn post.