WASHINGTON -- Stoke Space has raised $260 million to advance development of a fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle and its Cape Canaveral launch site.
Stoke announced on January 15 that it successfully completed a Series C funding round involving both new and returning investors. The company has raised a total of $480 million to date, which includes a $100 million Series B round in October 2023.
Based in Kent, Washington, Stoke Space is focused on its Nova vehicle, designed for medium-lift capabilities with both stages being reusable. The company recently conducted initial firings of the Zenith engine, which will power the vehicle's first stage. This engine utilizes liquid oxygen and methane propellants, featuring a full-flow staged combustion architecture for enhanced efficiency.
CEO Andy Lapsa expressed gratitude for the investor confidence, stating, “This new investment validates our progress and enables us to accelerate the development of technologies that will redefine access to and from space.”
Major investors in this round include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, and Y Combinator, among others. Lapsa mentioned that the funding will support the completion of Nova's development and renovations at Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch site is expected to be operational by the end of the year, although a timeline for the first launch remains unspecified.
Nova aims to deliver 3,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit with both stages reused, and up to 7,000 kilograms otherwise. The vehicle's upper stage features an actively cooled metallic heat shield, enabling it to return payloads from orbit.
Lapsa highlighted that Nova addresses the demand for reliability and affordability in a market with limited competition, particularly for smaller payloads. He emphasized that the rapid reuse of the upper stage is a significant challenge that, once solved, could transform space mobility into a more routine form of transportation.
In a related development, Slingshot Aerospace has secured a $1.9 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to enhance technologies for detecting electronic interference targeting GPS signals. This contract, awarded through the Space Force's SpaceWERX innovation arm, will leverage artificial intelligence to identify potential GPS threats.
Slingshot's platform monitors data from a network of partner satellites, creating near-real-time maps of GPS interference globally. CEO Tim Solms stated, “We’re focused on delivering actionable intelligence faster through predictive analytics.” The project builds on an earlier Phase 1 contract awarded in 2021, reflecting the increasing governmental focus on safeguarding Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).