Shepherd Space Systems
Shepherd Space Systems is a vertically integrated solid rocket motor manufacturer that replaces conventional casting with a proprietary vacuum-isolated extrusion process, eliminating entrapped air voids and producing propellant grains with under 0.5% void fraction. The company's Manifold design pipeline automatically converts plain-language mission requirements into production-ready grain geometry, toolpaths, and propellant batch cards. It has completed five instrumented static fires demonstrating 15% tighter thrust deviation versus cast motors.
- Defense Tech
- Manufacturing / Industry 4.0
- New Materials
- Hardware
Funding
Raised to date
$120KRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Founder details are not available yet.
Product
Problem
Conventional solid rocket motor manufacturing relies on casting processes that are susceptible to entrapped air voids, leading to unpredictable ballistic performance, reduced burst margins, and inconsistent thrust output. Supply chain bottlenecks and geometry constraints from legacy tooling further limit the ability to rapidly produce mission-specific motors for defense applications.
Solution
Shepherd Space Systems operates a vertically integrated facility that designs, extrudes, winds, and static fires complete solid rocket motor systems under one roof. The company's proprietary vacuum-isolated extrusion process eliminates the primary failure mode of entrapped air voids, producing propellant grains with near-theoretical density and measurable performance gains. Its Manifold design pipeline accepts plain-language mission requirements, automatically solves grain geometry, validates thrust envelopes, and releases production-ready designs directly to the extrusion line. Digital process control with closed-loop monitoring and full traceability from propellant batch to final assembly supports rapid iteration and production readiness reviews.
Target Audience
Primary customers are United States defense agencies including the Department of the Air Force and U.S. Space Force, as well as defense primes requiring solid propulsion for tactical and counter-UAS applications.
Features
- Vacuum-isolated extrusion process achieving under 0.5% void fraction, X-ray validated, with 15% tighter thrust deviation versus conventional casting
- Manifold design pipeline that parses mission constraints and generates grain geometry, toolpaths, and propellant batch cards automatically
- Composite motor casings with filament-wound carbon fiber, demonstrated burst pressure exceeding 1,100 psi
- Hydraulically compression-molded phenolic nozzle assemblies with graphite throat inserts and in-house Bulk Molding Compound manufacturing
- High-solids composite propellant formulations ranging 80–82% solids loading with complex grain geometries including star, finocyl, and moonburner profiles
- Fully instrumented static fire testing with high-frequency pressure, thrust, and temperature data acquisition; 5 instrumented static fires completed to date
- Digital process control with real-time extrusion monitoring and full digital traceability supporting production readiness reviews