Venus Aerospace has raised a $90 million Series B funding round to advance its Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE), a design promising greater efficiency than conventional rocket motors. The round matters because it marks the company's pivot from its original goal of clean hypersonic passenger jets towards defence and space applications, after a successful 2025 flight test prompted strong interest from potential military customers.

Founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife team Sassie and Andrew Duggleby, Venus is now targeting hypersonic weapons and high-speed space vehicles, aiming to replace the solid rocket motors used in many missiles. The RDRE, conceived in the mid-20th century, generates a continuous rotating supersonic wave of combustion rather than burning fuel in a round chamber; advances in 3D printing and simulation have made it viable. The funding, led by Mercury Fund with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures and others, will support vehicle development. A key challenge remains endurance: the engine's longest firing across 600 tests is 32 seconds, but customers will likely require six to fifteen minutes.