Stoke Space raises $1 billion to develop more powerful rocket

U.S. rocket launch startup Stoke Space plans to build a larger vehicle for replenishing satellite constellations now that the company has closed a $1 billion funding round, CEO Andy Lapsa told Reuters, doubling down on its fully reusable rocket strategy as demand grows for launch services.

The Series E round led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital this month values the company at roughly $10 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Stoke Space has now raised $2.3 billion since its 2020 founding.

The latest infusion of cash will speed ongoing development of the Nova Pathfinder rocket that Stoke plans to debut in 2027, Lapsa said. It also will help fund work on a larger rocket called Nova Block 2 that has been in development for over a year, Lapsa said.

The Pathfinder's mission manifest is fully booked "for the next couple years," Lapsa said, though he declined to provide a specific number of launches. He added the company is in early discussions with customers for Block 2, whose first launch is expected in 2029.

Demand in the global launch market has soared as companies expand their plans for services that require more satellites. Major players, including Elon Musk's SpaceX SPCX.O and companies in China, have bet on rocket reusability to reduce the cost of accessing orbit by tens of millions of dollars compared to traditional expendable rockets.

Only a few U.S. companies are working on fully reusable orbital launch systems. SpaceX is developing Starship as a fully reusable rocket. Rocket Lab's RKLB.Oupcoming Neutron is mostly reusable.

Pathfinder, previously Stoke's centerpiece rocket, is now seen as a stepping stone to the Block 2 model. The larger rocket will use 14 of Stoke's Zenith engines, twice as many as Pathfinder, so it can carry more satellites at once — a necessary capability as constellation companies will need to replace aging satellites, Lapsa said.

"We have seen customers moving up in both size and quantity of their spacecraft, and that's one of the big reasons to fully greenlight the Block 2," Lapsa said.

The smaller Pathfinder, which Stoke plans to keep in service even after Block 2 debuts, is for dedicated satellite missions or batches of small satellites.

The reusable version of the Pathfinder rocket is designed to lift 3 metric tons to low Earth orbit, while the expendable model can carry up to 7 metric tons — slightly more powerful than Firefly Aerospace's FLY.O expendable Alpha rocket and less than half as powerful as SpaceX's partially reusable Falcon 9.

Stoke expects the Block 2 rocket to lift up to 15 metric tons to low orbit in a fully reusable mode, or about 23 metric tons in expendable mode. That is nearly as powerful as the Falcon 9, the world's most active launcher that will eventually be replaced by SpaceX's much larger Starship system.

-Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Sergio Non and Nick Zieminski/Reuters