Québec-based launch and propulsion startup, Reaction Dynamics (RDX), has just announced the successful conclusion of a Series A funding round. The round attracted over $14 million CAD in investment.
The announcement was made at the 2025 International Paris Air Show (SIAE) in Le Bourget, and follows a recent announcement of $10 million CAD in support from the government of Québec, as covered in SpaceQ earlier this month. The company noted on LinkedIn that this round “brings the company’s total funds secured to CAD $38 million to date.”
Hybrid propulsion
RDX is focused on developing propulsion systems and launchers based on “hybrid propulsion:” engines that use a mixture of solid fuel and a liquid oxidizer. Hybrid engines have been rare in the past, owing to issues with maintaining a consistent fuel burn as the solid fuel changes size and shape. RDX has developed a novel pelletized fuel design to resolve these issues, however; one that’s engineered to provide a steady burn over time, as well as being largely non-toxic, environmentally friendly, and easily stored for long periods of time with minimal risk of unintended combustion.
RDX has also leveraged this solid fuel to attempt to create much simpler and more reliable engines: as their release stated, their approach “drastically simplifies the propulsion architecture, comprising only about a dozen parts compared to nearly 15,000 in traditional liquid-fueled engines.” This includes the RE-102 engine used in their Aurora-1 suborbital launcher, as well as the 10 RE-202B engines used in RDX’s multi-stage Aurora-8 orbital launcher (8 in the first stage and 2 in the second), not to mention their new “Micro OTV” orbital transfer vehicle.
RDX has said that this approach would allow customers to store both fuel and launchers for long periods of time, both terrestrially and on-orbit, to be quickly fueled up and deployed when needed. If it works, this could add significant flexibility compared to comparable liquid-fueled rockets.
Government support and private investment
In their LinkedIn post on the round, RDX credited Earl Diamond, “exited Canadian founder and Creative Destruction Lab mentor,” as well as crediting Blakes Ventures, the Provost Family, the Holte Family, the Kohn Family, Marcel Desjarlais, “and other visionaries” for the round. They also credited “Tim Draper of Draper Associates,” whose million-dollar investment was part of RDX’s victorious appearance on his “Meet the Drapers” reality show.
In the release, they said that this round adds to the $10 million grant from the Government of Québec. As noted in SpaceQ’s coverage of that announcement, Québec Premier François Legault pointed out that this was a key investment in Canadian sovereignty, pointing to the tensions between Canada and the United States as a reason for the need for Canadian sovereign launch capacity. In the Series A release, RDX reinforced this point, saying that “space sovereignty is emerging as a strategic national issue.”
This emphasis on space sovereignty is also in line with the recent announcement of a launch partnership between RDX and Galaxia Mission Systems to put Galaxia satellites into space using RDX’s launchers. The companies described this as “the first commercial contract to fly Canadian satellites aboard Canadian launch vehicles”—which is further accentuated by the RDX’s MOU with Maritime Launch Services to conduct launches at their currently-under-construction Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso.
Demonstration flight in December
RDX will be putting these new resources towards preparing their engines and launchers for upcoming technology testing and demonstration flights. The release said that they have “completed all major validation milestones of its now-patented technology,” and are currently working on “full-system testing.” The demonstration flight of the Aurora-1 suborbital rocket, from Australia, is scheduled for sometime at the end of December.
According to the SpaceQ exchange with RDX CEO Bachar Elzein earlier in June, RDX is working on “another important milestone;” a “working prototype of our thruster” that will be part of a CSA demonstration mission with several other companies. Elzein said that the mission “is supposed to fly to orbit on the SpaceX rocket in about a year and a half, in late 2026 early 2027.” He also said that the company has “increased the size of the team by about 25%, up to 55,” with more expected soon.
Their LinkedIn post also pointed to “orbital milestones planned for 2028,” though did not get into details.
In the Series A announcement, Elzein said that RDX has “a clear growth trajectory, with engine testing underway to validate our hybrid propulsion system.” He said that December’s demonstration flight would be “a key milestone to demonstrate our technology under real conditions, even though engine reliability is already proven,” and that it will “move us closer to commercial deployment.”
