MuRay raises €7.1M to inspect rocket engines with muon imaging

Hamburg-based deeptech company MuRay has raised €7.1 million to develop its Active Muon Imaging technology and take it to industrial customers. The system uses controlled muon beams to look inside dense components that conventional X-rays cannot penetrate.

The package combines a €3.5 million private round with €3.6 million in non-dilutive public funding, including a grant from the EU's Horizon Europe programme. First Momentum Ventures led the private round, with Caelora, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel Fusion, as co-lead. Superangel, Mätch VC, Arcas VC, Tiny VC and existing investor Nordic Science Investments also took part.

Seeing inside thick metal

MuRay was founded by Dr Andi Hektor and Dr Kristjan Põder, who serve as co-CEOs. Its first focus is quality assurance for safety-critical parts such as 3D-printed rocket engines and gas turbine components, where internal defects are hard to detect.

According to the company, X-rays reach their limit at a few centimetres of steel. Muons, by contrast, produce high-resolution 3D images of parts made from metals, ceramics and composites, and can reveal differences in material composition and density. Inspections could take minutes rather than hours, and the radiation dose would be significantly lower than with X-ray methods. That could make checks directly on production lines possible.

MuRay is also looking at space, aerospace, defence and energy, where more detailed inspections could shorten maintenance cycles for reusable rocket engines and jet engines. Further ideas include cargo and border security, such as detecting uranium in dense freight, plus radioactive waste monitoring, inspection of bridges and buildings, and clinical diagnostics.

Roadmap to 2029

Together with the German Space Agency at DLR, MuRay has modelled the inspection of a rocket engine and plans its first real-world assessment in 2027. The new money will fund technology development and commercialisation, including a mobile imaging system about the size of a shipping container for inspections at industrial sites.

The company plans to launch its first imaging service for industrial customers in 2027, combining DESY's existing electron beam in Hamburg with its own imaging system. A first full-scale system with a laser-driven accelerator is scheduled for 2029.