Venus Aerospace closes US$90m Series B for detonation rocket engine.

Venus Aerospace has raised a US$90m Series B led by Mercury Fund, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, MESH, PEAK6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, and Green Sands Equity. The funding is earmarked for testing and development of the company's Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE).

Detonation-based propulsion burns propellant in a sustained detonation wave rather than steady combustion, offering a step-change in efficiency over conventional rocket engines. Venus positions the RDRE as an ultra-efficient way to put payloads into space — and, in the longer arc, as the enabling technology for high-speed atmospheric flight.

The presence of Lockheed Martin Ventures on the cap table is the signal worth reading: prime contractors are placing early positions in propulsion architectures that could reset the cost curve for both launch and hypersonics.