Northern Colorado company to build 400-acre rocket testing site in Weld County

A multi-million dollar aerospace company in Northern Colorado, which helps design rocket engines for the military, is expanding its operation in Weld County. Ursa Major, currently located in Berthoud, recently announced they were building a rocket testing pad in Weld County near Briggsdale.

“It is a fascinating process,” said Chris Engdahl, chief safety and risk officer for Ursa Major. “Ursa Major is, I think, the next great aerospace and defense company. And it is right here in Berthoud, Colorado.”

The current rocket testing location is just off Interstate 25. The campus looks like a set of normal office and warehouse structures in the middle of an otherwise empty field, neighbored by a couple of dozen homes from a community nearby. In the field is a stack of cement blocks that surrounds the test location for the rocket motors Ursa Major ultimately sells to companies and even the U.S. military.

“There is nowhere else like it, where we are co-located with build and testing, throughout the day, you can hear rocket engines going off in the background and motors being tested, it is really incredible,” said Bill Murray, cofounder and VP of products and engineering.

CBS News Colorado was taken on a tour of the current facility in Berthoud, but was not permitted to record video of the assembly or testing process. Ursa Major provided a sample video of what tests of their rocket engines look like.

“We have booked over $100 million in contracts this year and we are growing rapidly,” Murray said.

Murray said the company is growing so quickly that they are looking to hire more Coloradans from universities like Colorado State University and the University of Colorado as they prepare to expand their staff and property.

“We just expanded in Briggsdale, Colorado, with a new 400-acre test site to test large rocket motors,” Murray said.

“Think of all the missile systems the Army, the Navy, Marine Corps, the Air Force use. We are the provider for the engines of those technologies,” Engdahl said.

Not only are the rocket engines being developed in Northern Colorado used by the military, but they are also being used by the private sector.

“Our liquid rocket engines are being used on recurring hypersonic test flights,” Murray said.

“I think the whole state of Colorado is very keen on being a leader in aerospace defense,” Engdahl said.