Press release
Pluto Aerospace Raises $2.5 Million to Make Hypersonic Flight Testing More Accessible
Funding will expand flight capacity and solid rocket motor production as the company serves customers developing technology for extreme flight environments
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — October 1, 2026 — Pluto Aerospace, a company building affordable, rapid access to hypersonic flight, today announced it has raised $2.5 million, led by Fuse with participation from Elevate Ventures. The funding will help Pluto increase its flight cadence, grow its team and expand production of the solid rocket motors that power its test vehicles.
Hypersonic hardware often waits months or years for a chance to fly. Pluto offers customers a more direct path from the lab to flight: a recoverable rocket platform that can carry experiments through high-speed, high-heat conditions and return their hardware for inspection. Its DASH platform is designed to reach approximately Mach 5, with flight opportunities starting at $50,000 and typical lead times of 60 to 90 days.
Pluto has already flown customer payloads and is building toward more frequent flights. Customers can use the platform to test materials, sensors and other technologies in an actual flight environment, then use the resulting data to improve the next design.
“If you want to go fast, you can’t be afraid to break taps,” said Chris Nilsen, founder and CEO of Pluto Aerospace. “You also can’t move fast when every flight has to work its way through layers of programs. Pluto gives companies of all sizes a way to get real flight data, make changes in days and book the next test on a schedule they can plan around. That cycle should take months, not years or entire careers.”
Pluto develops and produces solid rocket motors for its own flight systems and is expanding that capability to serve other customers. The company plans to use the new capital to add engineering and production capacity, strengthen its manufacturing operations and support a higher tempo of customer missions.
About Pluto Aerospace
Pluto Aerospace builds solid rocket motors and provides accessible hypersonic flight testing for organizations developing materials, sensors and flight hardware. Based in West Lafayette, Indiana, Pluto helps customers move from ground testing to real flight data with rapid, recoverable rocket missions. Learn more at plutoaerospace.com.
Media contact: Christopher Nilsen · hello@plutoaerospace.com