Stoke Space just raised an impressive $1 billion in a Series E round, pushing its total funding to $2.3 billion, as it closes in on its first orbital launch attempt next year.
That total has grown fast. Less than a year earlier, Stoke closed a $510 million Series D led by the US Innovative Technology Fund, plus a $100 million debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank, bringing its funding at the time to $990 million, aimed at accelerating development, manufacturing and scaling of its Nova launch vehicle.
Nova was designed from the start for full, rapid reusability across both stages, filling the gap between small-sat launchers and heavy-lift vehicles. The initial Pathfinder version lifts 3 metric tons to low Earth orbit in fully reusable mode, or up to 7 tons expendable. Seven Zenith engines power the first stage, methane and liquid oxygen fueled, while the upper stage carries a ring of 24 thrusters around a regeneratively cooled heat shield for reentry. At about 3.8 meters in diameter, Pathfinder is slightly wider than a Falcon 9, though considerably shorter.
The new Series E funding will go toward a larger Block 2 version of Nova, with a 5 meter diameter and more Zenith engines, capable of lifting 15 metric tons to orbit in a fully reusable configuration, close to Falcon 9’s 18 ton reusable lift capacity. Stoke is targeting 2029 for Block 2’s debut launch.
Satellite operators are presently in panic mode when it comes to launch availability. Stoke can address some of these issues with Nova Pathfinder, but it will need the larger Block 2 vehicle to compete with SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9.
The space economy will grow exactly as fast as we can launch rockets. It will not grow faster. It cannot grow faster. And there is a lot of pent-up demand for rockets flying. The mismatch between supply of launch and demand is enormous.
Image Credit: Stoke Space
References
With another huge infusion of cash, Stoke Space goes even bigger
Stoke Space Raises $1 Billion to Accelerate Fully Reusable Launch
https://www.stokespace.com/news/stoke-space-series-e
Stoke Space raises $510 million. https://spacenews.com/stoke-space-raises-510-million/
Stoke Raises $510 Million to Scale Manufacturing of Fully reusable Nova Launch vehicle https://www.stokespace.com/stoke-space-technologies-raises-510-million-to-scale-manufacturing-of-fully-reusable-nova-launch-vehicle/