Reaction Dynamics is raising $5 million to launch the first hybrid rocket engine in space. Their engine uses recycled plastic as fuel and has been tested 300 times on Earth, but investors question whether it will actually work in the vacuum of space.
Chapters
Supposing you have all the money you need tomorrow, what are you each going to do besides—
Well, so I'll just— we're looking for $1 million from you folks today to go towards $5 million that we're currently raising to demonstrate the world's first hybrid rocket to fire in the vacuum of space. In particular, if you don't mind, Bill, we're very well aware of your contribution and your commitment to the United Nations Development Program. We'd like to thank you for your contribution, and it's an honor to be here with you today. Okay.
He's sucking up. Why is that connected to the hybrid and the vacuum?
Sure. Tim kind of dialed in and maybe put a little bit of pressure.
Tim must have heard a million pitches in his life. Bill must have heard a million pitches in his life. They want to really go deep to it.
So we've tested our engines over 300 times. We've proven that they work here on Earth. The next step with one— with your $1 million— I see.
You still haven't proven that these things work in space. Were you here to see Cree Edwards? Yeah, we spoke to him earlier. Yeah. If suddenly our world is different and everything is energy, does that change the way you might look at propulsion in space?
Rocket propulsion is the purest form of energy conversion. You're converting those chemicals, propellants, into thermal energy, then you're converting that into kinetic energy. We don't We don't see it changing. We don't believe it will change. There's a lot of things Einstein can be wrong, but the second law and first law of thermodynamics have been proven right for 300 years.
I'll add that the difference between what everyone else is doing and what we're doing, we've done away with toxic and hazardous chemicals. We use a stable fuel, which is a condensed and recycled plastic, and so it's non-reactive. It's very safe for service members, for troops, and for anyone working in the space sector.
You don't need oxygen for this thing to work?
We do need an oxidizer. In our case, our oxidizer, unlike pretty much every company, is storable at room temperature, Would SpaceX use your technology to move vehicles in space once they're up there?
That's a very astute comment. The, the contract that we talked about with the US Department of Defense is leveraging Starship's capabilities to mobilize our rockets into space.
