Carbon-carbon and ceramic matrix composite nozzles for liquid and solid propulsion. Where metal cannot survive.
Orbital's business is factories. The drones demonstrate one side of what the factory can do — structural composites at the rate and unit cost that make mass production of defense-grade airframes viable. Rocket nozzles demonstrate the other side: composite parts at the extreme end of materials performance, where the part must survive conditions that destroy every other class of material.
These are complementary proofs. A factory that produces composite airframes at rate can also produce rocket nozzles at cycle times the incumbent composite propulsion supply chain cannot approach. Different parts, different physics, same underlying manufacturing platform.
The nozzles answer the question a propulsion program manager actually asks: can the part be produced, in quantity, at the cycle time the program schedule requires, to the performance the engine demands?
↳ Drones prove rate · Nozzles prove performance · Same factoryNozzles for solid-propellant motors across missile, interceptor, and tactical propulsion classes. Solid motors run at extreme chamber temperatures for short burn durations — the nozzle material must survive peak thermal shock and erosive exhaust without ablating beyond tolerance. Carbon-carbon and carbon-silicon-carbide are the material classes that meet the requirement; the production constraint is cycle time and supply-chain capacity. Orbital's process addresses both.
↳ Carbon-carbon · CMC · Short-duration high-temperatureNozzles and nozzle extensions for liquid bipropellant engines — orbital propulsion, upper-stage, in-space, and launch vehicle classes. Liquid engines run longer burn durations than solid motors and demand nozzles with sustained thermal stability, cooling compatibility, and reusability where the mission requires it. Composite nozzle extensions reduce mass, enable higher expansion ratios, and survive where radiatively-cooled metal cannot.
↳ Orbital propulsion · Upper stage · Launch vehicle · ReusableThe same manufacturing platform produces both classes. The chemistry, the fiber placement strategy, and the densification process are tuned to the thermal regime of each engine — but the core process (continuous-fiber printing plus compression molding for near-net-shape preforms, followed by matrix densification) is shared across all of it.
↳ One factory · Both propellant classes · Scales from thrusters to main enginesCeramic matrix composites are the material class for the environments no other material survives. Carbon-carbon can operate above 2,000°C without the mass of active cooling and without the failure modes of ablatives. Ceramic matrix composites add oxidation resistance, extending service temperatures and enabling longer-duration burn profiles. For propulsion systems at the performance ceiling, CMC is not optional — it is the only material class that meets the requirement.
Composite nozzles deliver a second advantage: mass. The nozzle is typically among the heaviest components of an engine. A CMC nozzle can reduce engine dry mass meaningfully, which compounds directly into payload mass, range, or burn duration. On orbital and upper-stage engines where every kilogram translates to a specific-impulse benefit, the mass savings are decisive.
The incumbent composite propulsion supply chain has known this for fifty years. The obstacle was never the science. It was the manufacturing.
↳ Carbon-carbon · Ceramic matrix · Thermal ceiling · Mass decisiveA traditional composite nozzle program proceeds in months per part. Hand layup or filament winding of the preform, followed by chemical vapor infiltration densification cycles that can run for weeks. The process produces excellent nozzles and has for decades — but it produces them slowly, in low volume, and with part-to-part variability that requires extensive qualification testing to bound.
Orbital has demonstrated 5× cost and cycle time reduction against the traditional composite propulsion supply chain. Not a projection — a demonstrated result, across CMC parts produced in our facility.
Additive preform layup replaces hand layup. Compression molding consolidates near-net shape before densification. The process reduces the elapsed time from raw material to qualified part by five times relative to traditional CMC manufacturing.
Software-defined fiber placement and closed-loop sensing on every layer produce nozzles with dimensional and structural repeatability that manual layup cannot match. Qualification testing scales better against a repeatable process.
Continuous-fiber printing places fiber along load paths. Non-axisymmetric nozzle geometries, varying wall thickness, and integrated attachment features become programmable — not tooling-constrained.
Small thruster-class nozzles through main-engine throat diameters on the same core manufacturing architecture. Cells scale to the part; the chemistry and process control don't.
Composite propulsion has always been constrained by the production bottleneck, not the materials science. Propulsion programs that wanted more nozzles, faster, could not get them — supply capacity capped what the programs could plan around. Orbital exists to remove that constraint. The process is demonstrated. The scale-up is the work ahead.
↳ Process demonstrated · Scaling to program cadence · CMC supply chain at rateThe drones prove the factory at scale.
The nozzles prove it at the performance ceiling.
If you're running a propulsion program and the production bottleneck is composite parts — let's talk.