# Venus Aerospace

> Venus Aerospace develops rotating detonation rocket engines and integrated rocket-ramjet propulsion for defense, space and future high-speed flight. Founded by Sassie and Andrew Duggleby, the Houston company demonstrated a high-thrust RDRE in flight in May 2025 and is now working on customer integration and manufacturing.

- **Founded:** 2020
- **Headquarters:** Houston, United States
- **Founders:** Sarah "Sassie" Duggleby (Co-founder and CEO), Andrew Duggleby (Co-founder and CTO)
- **Products:** Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE), Venus Detonation Ramjet (VDR; previously VDR2), Stargazer M4, Propulsion development and hot-fire testing
- **Notable:** February 2024 drone flight reached Mach 0.9 using a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine, validating vehicle systems rather than a full RDRE., May 2025 high-thrust RDRE flight demonstration at Spaceport America; Venus calls it the first such flight., Completed NASA-supported nozzle-design testing, announced April 2025.

## Products & services

- **Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE)** — Annular-combustor rocket engine using a continuous supersonic detonation wave; high-thrust flight demonstration announced in May 2025. Intended applications include munitions, upper stages, orbital transfer and landers.
- **Venus Detonation Ramjet (VDR; previously VDR2)** — Development-stage integration of Venus RDRE with air-breathing ramjet technology; Velontra partnership announced for the VDR2 concept in October 2024.
- **Stargazer M4** — Proposed reusable Mach 4 passenger aircraft. A long-term concept, not an operating airline or a commercially available vehicle. Earlier Stargazer publicity described a Mach 9 ambition.
- **Propulsion development and hot-fire testing** — Joint development, vehicle integration and test programs, including Lockheed Martin precision-fires evaluation and CycloKinetics propellant testing.

## Achievements

- February 2024 drone flight reached Mach 0.9 using a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine, validating vehicle systems rather than a full RDRE.
- May 2025 high-thrust RDRE flight demonstration at Spaceport America; Venus calls it the first such flight.
- Completed NASA-supported nozzle-design testing, announced April 2025.
- Selected for the World Economic Forum 2026 Technology Pioneers cohort.
- Opened expanded Houston Spaceport propulsion test infrastructure in September 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Opened a higher-thrust, longer-duration propulsion test stand at Houston Spaceport on September 10.
- **2026-09** — CycloKinetics selected Venus for Air Force-backed CycloRP testing; technical readout expected in early 2027.
- **2026-07** — Announced Lockheed Martin joint development agreement for long-range precision fires on July 21.
- **2026-07** — Expanded leadership across policy, product and operations on July 16.
- **2026-07** — Announced $91 million Series B led by Mercury Fund on July 8.

## Links

- Website: https://www.venusaero.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/venusaero/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/VenusAerospace
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6_W6szRCw0
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venusaero/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/venus-aerospace
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-05