Hop Aero
An aerospace company developing autonomous point-to-point cargo rockets for urgent deliveries to remote locations, with propulsion and ground prototypes tested so far.
Product
Testing the route from a cargo concept to flight
Hop Aero is developing Rook, an autonomous cargo rocket intended to move urgent supplies to remote or difficult-to-reach locations without a runway. The proposed system launches from a shipping container, follows a suborbital flight and lands on an unprepared surface. Its initial focus is defense logistics, with potential commercial uses in industries where a missing component can halt operations. Those describe the intended delivery service, rather than routes already operating.
The company has built and hot-fired engines, tested a roughly half-scale prototype on a static stand, and demonstrated a payload deployment mechanism on the ground. In a September interview, CEO Matija Milenovic said it had yet to fly an untethered vehicle. Development is now moving to the full-scale Rook 2, whose first flight is planned for mid-2027. Hop also operates an engineering headquarters in Orange, California and a test site at Oklahoma’s Infinity One Spaceport.
Funding history
1 round- $11M