The aerospace industry hasn't exactly been the poster child for reinvention. 50 years of tweaks, paint jobs, and jargon. Then Astro Mechanica shows up in SF and suddenly incumbents look uncomfortable. Founded in 2021 by Ian Brooke, a full-stack mechanical engineer with a pilot license and an obsession with building machines that move faster, Astro Mechanica is going all in on one of the boldest #propulsionsystems in aerospace. The Duality #turboelectric adaptive engine isn't a sketch, it's a test-fired reality. Built in months, not decades, on half a million dollars of off-the-shelf hardware.
Astro Mechanica calls itself a vertically integrated engineering collective. They're designing propulsion, #airframes, and systems the industry hasn’t reimagined in half a century. This isn't incrementalism, it's an architecture shift. The Duality runs like a shapeshifter: turbofan at takeoff, turbojet near the sound barrier, ramjet past Mach 2. Electric motors decouple fan and compressor from the #turbine, unlocking efficiency across all regimes. That's physics, finally hacked to serve speed without burning fuel like it's 1973.
Validation is stacking up. First hot-fire test in October 2024 at 30% power. A proof-of-concept in two months. Flight-ready in three. Partnerships with #AFRL, #INDOPACOM, and the #RapidCapabilitiesOffice already in play. Projections that it could power an unmanned aircraft the size of Anduril Industries’s Fury nonstop across the Pacific at Mach 2–3.
Investors aren’t just watching, they’re betting. In April 2025, Astro Mechanica closed a $27.1M Series A co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, Lowercarbon Capital, and Giant Step Capital, joined by Alumni Ventures, Voyager Capital, Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, and Dolby Family Ventures. 4 months later, United Airlines Ventures added an undisclosed check. For a global airline, this isn’t a trophy, it’s a hedge on the future of long-haul flight.
Ian Brooke is steering the vision with COO Ashley Pelzel, VP Defense Systems Richard Brisbin, and Director of Ops Rohan Trivedi. On the technical side, Patrick McGuire drives propulsion, Matthew Perkins leads electrical/software, and engineers like Tyler Sandberg, Scott Hightower, and Alex Kramer are pushing hardware past limits. Shirley Lee is carrying the story, because companies this bold need sharp voices too.
Astro Mechanica isn’t chasing speed for speed’s sake. It’s after a new standard of mobility: trans-Pacific supersonic demos in 2-3 years, affordable Mach 2+ travel in a decade, defense contracts now, #commercialservices next, and maybe space #launch plays that make rockets look overpriced. If they make high-speed flight flexible, accessible, and sustainable, the way people and goods move will never look the same.
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