HWBRIEF
Stoke Space has now collected $2.3 billion in private capital before a single orbital launch, and is already designing a larger follow on rocket.
Stoke Space, a Washington-based launch startup, has now raised $2.3 billion in private capital after closing a $1 billion Series E round co-led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital. The company has not yet attempted an orbital launch.
The $1 billion round was reported on Tuesday and confirmed by Payload Space, extending a previously announced $860 million Series D. Stoke used the announcement to disclose a larger follow-on vehicle, Block 2, designed to carry 15 metric tons to low-Earth orbit in a fully reusable configuration. The initial Nova rocket is sized for 3 metric tons reusable, or 7 metric tons expendable.
Its first stage pairs seven Zenith engines producing 700,000 pounds of thrust. The upper stage uses a 24-thruster ring surrounding a regeneratively cooled heat shield for reentry, a configuration that lets the upper stage return from orbit rather than burn up.
The first stage completed structural testing earlier this summer and will ship to Cape Canaveral "pretty soon," CEO Andy Lapsa told Ars Technica. The upper stage heads to Stoke's Moses Lake, Washington test site for further testing and a ground test-firing before moving to Florida.
A $2.3 billion raise before any orbital attempt is a specific bet on a specific reentry mechanism. The next twelve months of structural tests and the debut flight itself are what that bet has to clear.