Quebec’s Reaction Dynamics (RDX) were once again successful at pitching business leaders and reality TV stars on their hybrid-fueled rocket company, opening the door for a million-dollar investment.
On the April 4 semifinal episode of the seventh season of Meet the Drapers, RDX’s CEO Bachar Elzein, and Director of Business Development Jesse Mikelberg, successfully convinced the judges that their company was worth a further look. They’ll be moving on to the upcoming finals episode on April 18th, where the million dollar investment prize will be up for grabs.
Meet the Drapers is hosted by venture capitalist Tim Draper, and calls itself “the largest global pitch competition,” with venture capitalists travelling around the world to hear pitches from entrepreneurs across a variety of industries. Each episode is a distinct competition in a distinct location, recorded in countries around the world: Kazakhstan, the UAE, France, and England among others.
In an earlier episode based in New York and aired in late February, RDX’s Mikelberg successfully faced off against companies focused on everything from AI-based healthcare to cryptocurrency-based international remittances. While the judges occasionally needed help understanding the technologies involved—no surprise when you’re talking about rocket science—they ultimately concluded that RDX was worth advancing to the next round.
RDX and Hybrid Rockets
As mentioned in previous SpaceQ coverage, Reaction Dynamics is focused on developing spacecraft that use so-called “hybrid” propulsion engines that use a combination of a solid propellant and liquid oxidizer.
Theoretically this offers a tremendous number of advantages. Solid fuel can be easily and safely stored for long periods of time, and is generally far less volatile than liquid fuel, with near-nonexistent risk of unplanned combustion. The proprietary solid fuel that RDX has developed, in particular, is one that the company has touted as being low-carbon and non-toxic: a big change from most other rocket fuels.
Reaction Dynamics’ earlier pitch in February highlighted that this combination of safety and stability would mean that their spacecraft could be left idle both in space or on the ground for extended periods of time. This could be a key competitive advantage, which could make RDX’s spacecraft very attractive for both national security customers and a variety of other spacecraft operators in need of on-demand provisioning of spacecraft for both launch and on-orbit operations. The potentially lower environmental impact could also make RDX attractive, as climate change and environmental damage become increasingly pressing global concerns.
So far, however, these benefits of hybrid propulsion have remained generally theoretical. While the theory behind hybrid engines has been around for decades, various technical limitations have left them out of the mix in real-world spaceflight. Reaction Dynamics believes, however, that their fuel design has resolved these issues, and intend to demonstrate that resolution with their small-lift Aurora rockets and the RE-101 engines, which are built using additive manufacturing (3D printing).
The need to test (and demonstrate) their technology is the main reason RDX is participating in the Draper contest. RDX is looking to get a million in investment from the Drapers, as the first part of a five million dollar investment round. With that money, they’ll be able to more easily fund their upcoming launch attempts: a test of the suborbital Aurora-1 launcher in Australia later this year, and a test of the orbital Aurora-8 launcher at Spaceport Nova Scotia sometime in 2026.
Pitching the Drapers
After a quick behind-the-scenes debate with an AI-focused fellow contestant group about communications and managing uncertainty, RDX got on stage in front of the judges.
As in the first round, Mikelberg and Elzein smoothly laid out their case for RDX and its approach, how they’d already successfully signed a contract with the US Department of Defense, and how they’d already successfully tested the RE-101 engines on the ground. but, just as in the first round, Draper and his fellow judges raised the question of both the company’s robust competition from established players like SpaceX, and the difficulty of making space launch work.
Elzein said that they see SpaceX as “a peer”, and that they’re looking to provide different services. SpaceX launches carry “twenty, thirty, forty satellites at a time”, Elzein said, requiring long orbit corrections for individual satellites; while RDX launches will carry “a single satellite with pinpoint accuracy” to a particular orbit.
Mikelberg also noted that they have a relationship with SpaceX already; their in-space hybrid thruster technology for satellites and other spacecraft (covered last year in SpaceQ) will be taken into orbit for testing sometime this year.
Draper did bring up that other companies are looking to provide the same services for bespoke launch. Elzein emphasized that the solid fuel “reduces the costs by an order of magnitude”, meaning that they can offer these bespoke launches at “a third of the cost of what you’d pay to reach orbit” with other companies.
Mikelberg said that “we’ve tested our engines over three hundred times; we’ve proven they work on earth” and that the next step is using the investment to prove they can get off the ground. Draper homed in on that, noting that “you still haven’t proven that these things work in space”. While the episode’s editing meant that it didn’t show RDX’s response to that point, Mikelberg then noted that “it’s a stable fuel that is a condensed and recycled plastic, so it’s non reactive, it’s very safe”, emphasizing that those things could make it attractive to the US military.
Elzein said that their oxidizer is also “storeable at room temperature”, making their rockets, engines and propellants that much easier to stockpile, and therefore make RDX’s offerings more attractive.
“Capital Intensive”
One of the judges, investor Linus Chung, said he was impressed by the DOD contract, but did bring up how space is comparatively “capital intensive” and has a long timeline, notably so compared to their competition in sectors like AI and cybersecurity. Mikelberg responded on the timeline point, saying that things were currently “expedited” owing to competition from China and Russia, and that they were “benefiting from that expedited process”. Elzein added that the long timeframe is why “we’ve been talking with customers since the inception of the company”.
After the presentation was over, Chung reiterated his concerns about the timeline and the capex requirements, but said that ultimately it was “really inspirational to think about”. Another judge, Priya Ramachandran, remarked on the timeline issue by saying that “the company was founded around six years ago—that’s the time that’s needed”. The final judge, venture capitalist and former US Export-Import Bank President (and Tim’s father) William Henry Draper, simply said that “that’s (RDX) the best of the group”.
In the end, the elder Draper’s opinion held. After consulting his trademark “crystal ball”, Draper announced that RDX will be moving on to the final along with blockchain cybersecurity startup Failsafe. The final, taking place in Silicon Valley will be airing in a few weeks, on April 18th, where viewers will finally learn who won the million dollar USD investment, as well as the 500k and 250k prizes for second and third place respectively.
The competition will be tough, but Mikelberg and RDX have already succeeded twice so far. Even if they don’t win the million, those smaller amounts for podium placement could still help them successfully conclude the round, as their attention turns to the upcoming suborbital launch of Aurora-1 in Australia later this year.
