Adranos celebrates opening of fuel production facility
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West Lafayette-based Adranos Inc. is celebrating the opening of its new production facility in the Purdue Research Park. The Purdue-affiliated startup manufactures advanced solid rocket motors that are powered by solid rocket fuel called ALITEC.
Adranos broke ground in 2020 on the $10 million production facility. The company says it completed its first ALITEC fuel production runs in early 2022.
The company says the site will help it to bridge the gap between invention and commercialization by enabling production of ALITEC in large volumes.
“In the last three years, Adranos has worked with its Department of Defense and commercial customers to demonstrate the substantial performance increase that ALITEC fuel delivers. With this facility completed, we can produce ALITEC at scales necessary to meet the needs of national security and commercial space customers,” said Adranos co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Chris Stoker.
Adranos says its motors and corresponding fuel enhance the range, payload capacity, and speed of space and defense launch systems. The company says the fuel releases more energy per unit weight of fuel versus traditional solid rocket fuels.
Stoker says the Purdue Research Foundation and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. provided significant support setting up the facility.
“We’re proud of every organization that has opened or located in our business parks but none more so than those like Adranos who are totally homegrown,” said Purdue President Mitch Daniels. “This investment is the latest example that the small seed of research that happens in a Purdue lab often turns into something big.”
Adranos says it has plans to further expand ALITEC production footprint in Indiana to address growing demand for the advanced solid rocket fuel.