Chromatic 3D Materials Sets Up Rocket Propellant Test-Firing Facility at Camp Ripley

Chromatic 3D Materials is establishing a rocket propellant test-firing capability at Camp Ripley, a 53,000-acre National Guard training facility near Little Falls, Minn.

A closed-loop setup

The facility combines a dedicated propellant print lab with on-site test firing infrastructure. The practical effect: a direct transition from fabrication to live-fire evaluation, eliminating the logistics of shipping newly printed propellant to a separate test range. For a company iterating on formulations and grain geometries, that closed-loop arrangement means faster test cycles and quicker validation of what works — and what doesn't.

Partnerships behind the facility

Chromatic connected with Camp Ripley and the Minnesota National Guard through a collaboration with Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Minnesota and the Minnesota National Security Ecosystem. The hub's purpose is getting commercial technology in front of the right testing environments.

"Commercial companies often have promising technologies but need access to the right partners, facilities, and testing environments to demonstrate their capabilities and move forward," said Matt Hickey, managing director of OnRamp Hub: Minnesota.

"Our role is to help make those connections, reduce barriers to testing and evaluation, and create pathways that accelerate getting commercial technologies into the hands of the warfighter."

LEMA, a Minnesota-based expeditionary power company under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is also contributing to the effort.

Power for forward operations

Alongside the propulsion work, Chromatic and LEMA are collaborating to demonstrate forward-deployed solar power generation capabilities at Camp Ripley. The goal is a model for energy-independent, rapidly deployable defence infrastructure — pairing portable solar generation with on-site propellant production and testing to support advanced manufacturing and propulsion testing in resource-constrained settings.

Why it matters

Repeatability and performance, proven through accelerated test cycles, are the gate to deployment across defence propulsion applications.

"Development and manufacturing speed are critical in modern defense," said Cora Leibig, CEO of Chromatic 3D Materials. "Our presence at Camp Ripley allows us to rapidly demonstrate performance, validate manufacturing approaches and reduce the time required to deliver advanced propulsion solutions to rocket manufacturers."