Space Capitalists: Rocket Crafters
An Opinionated Non-Scientific Profile of Rocket Crafters
To Space Capitalists,
This is the second installment of an ongoing series of letters written to better understand the companies participating in the NewSpace race. Today’s letter features Rocket Crafters from America’s launch HQ, the Florida Space Coast.
Who are they?
Rocket Crafters is a small startup targeting the small to medium launch market with their hybrid rocket engines STAR-3Dâ„¢. These 3D printed rocket engines mix proprietary solid fuel rocket grain made from thermoplastics (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) with nitrous oxide at ignition. Their management features three former United States Air Force officers, one of whom was also an astronaut pilot on Space Shuttle Columbia, Sid Gutierrez. The funding to-date for Rocket Crafters has come from individual investors totaling approximately $300,000.00, in addition to a DARPA contract worth $542,600.00. In 2019 their president, Robert Fabian, announced plans to raise additional venture capital venture capital with a target of $5.7 million. The funding would be used to expand hiring, continue their engine testing and additionally explore manufacturing sites closer to their future launch pad at Exploration Park.
What do they do?
Rocket Crafters intends to become a vertically integrated small launch company that targets a small payload launch service that they believe will increase in the coming years. Their current services include in-house additive-manufacturing of their rocket engines and rocket fuel. In 2019 they announced a partnership with United Launch Alliance supplier RUAG from Switzerland for additional launch equipment.
What is unique about the company?
What distinguishes Rocket Crafters is their focus on additive manufacturing as a method of entry into the launch market. Like Relativity Space, Rocket Crafters are betting heavily on 3D printing as a way to enter the capital-intensive launch market. Unlike Relativity Space, Rocket Crafters is a much smaller, scrappier NewSpace startup in terms of funding but this is a good indicator for investors as to the feasibility of 3D printed rockets – can NewSpace startups survive on smaller budgets?
What makes Rocket Crafters unique is their approach to engine design. They claim to have the safest most reliable hybrid rocket engine on the market – an engine that does not have combustion issues. Secondly, their engines are manufactured using proprietary 3D printing methods to simply the supply chain. Finally, they have patents pending on their 3D printed rocket fuel. They are making big bets on additive manufacturing, but how important are these distinctions? If we accept their engine’s performance and reliability, unless they can scale their engine designs in size, thrust, and specific impulse they will have to rely on the continued existence of the small launch market.
How big is the market?
Their president, Robert Fabian, has publicly stated that the small launch market is currently underserved and they do not intend to compete with large launch providers such as SpaceX or ULA. Their Intrepid launch vehicle will begin testing this winter 2020 which will be powered by their Star-3Dâ„¢ hybrid rocket engine. The latest iteration of their engines can generate up to 5000 lbf. What does this mean? Their future revenue will depend almost exclusively on small to medium satellite operators. Will the market be large enough to sustain their operations? There are many estimates available online and most predictions range from 15-20 billion buy 2026. Deployment of 5G and other communication services will be the main drivers for the market. The problem for Rocket Crafters is the fierce competition for small and medium launch services not just from other small and medium launch providers but also from rideshare services on larger launch vehicles. I am cautiously optimistic about the market they are competing in
Who are their competitors?
Former Rocket Crafters cofounder Ronald Jones left in 2018 to form a competing startup Firehawk Aerospace. Rocket Crafters intend to compete in a saturated small-medium launch market. Some other startups in this space are, previously mentioned Relativity Space, Rocket Labs from Los Angeles , Gilmour Space from Singapore, iRocket from New York, and Launcher from Brooklyn to name a few.
Bullish or Bearish?
As always, I am skeptical of the small and medium launch market. Why? It is much more difficult to scale up in size as unlike scaling down. If the small to medium launch market becomes so lucrative, as many analysts suggest, what will stop SpaceX, ULA, or Blue Origin from rapidly manufacturing a smaller version of their existing large launch technologies? I understand that there is much more complexity and nuance to rocket design than simply scaling down, but the key technology behind launch is the engineering infrastructure, and methodology – all of which the larger providers have in abundance. Similar to my analysis of Relativity Space, I am bearish on Rocket Crafter’s launch ambitions. That said, I am not scared to admit when I am wrong, so we will revisit these predictions in a few years. One way I could be proven wrong (and I hope I am) is the possibility of smaller and smaller satellites providing more and more functionalities. Will satellites follow the size-trends of computing moving from the massive early enterprise machines to the handheld smart phones that we all have today? That depends on what functions these small satellites can perform beyond Earth surveillance and inter-satellite communications. Will there be small satellite constellations facing away from Earth mapping cosmic-phenomena enabling mission navigation to Mars and deep space?
I am bullish on Rocket Crafter’s additive manufacturing methods. If I were advising them, I would look for methods to scale up the design and manufacture of their rocket engines to be fit on large to super-large launch vehicles and shift to becoming an exclusive provider of hybrid engines for other launch providers. Why? Again, I currently think that large to super-large will eat the small and medium launch market. If that trend becomes reality, Rocket Crafters can increase engine manufacturing output and generate more supply to the medium to large market hopefully creating more demand for operators in that space and additionally more pressure for SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin to improve designs and lower prices.
At the end of the day, I want to see Rocket Crafters succeed. The more suppliers participating in launch, the better off we are as NewSpace investors and as a country. If you reached a different conclusion and want to share your opinions, please comment or feel free to reach me at david@spacecapitalists.com. Until next time, stay hungry and disciplined.
~ David Sauve
About Space Capitalists
Space Capitalists is a daily publication researching the latest trends, startups, and technology of the NewSpace economy. These publications are never meant to be investment advice.
About David Sauve
David is an actuary, finance specialist, researcher and investor in the emerging NewSpace economy.
