Stoke Space raises $510M for manufacturing of Nova launch vehicle
Stoke Space Technologies Vice President and Moses Lake Test Site and Operations Director Katherine Cruz explains how the horizontal rocket test platform at the Moses Lake site works and what it’s used for. The various tubes connect to the rocket to provide fuel and cameras and sensors provide feedback to the development team on a variety of factors associated with engine performance. Stoke has received funding in March and again in October to help develop its rocket technology and get it to the manufacturing stage.
FILE PHOTO
KENT — Stoke Space Technologies – with facilities in Moses Lake, Kent and Cape Canaveral, Fla. – has secured $510 million in funding through Thomas Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund and Silicon Valley Bank, supporting the manufacture of the company’s Nova Launch vehicle. The funding more than doubles its total capital raised to $990 million, according to a press release from the company.
“Stoke’s pioneering approach to reusable launch systems directly advances our national security and commercial access to orbit. Their vision for resilient, high-frequency launch operations is the kind of innovation essential to maintaining leadership in the space industry. We’re proud to support their mission in defining the next chapter of U.S. aerospace,” said Tull, chairman of USIT.
The manufacture of the Nova Launch vehicle will be shored up by the new funding. The vehicle is in development at a facility in Moses Lake that boasts multiple launch test pads, a lateral test site, a control room and other facilities needed to develop the second stage rocket. In past interviews with the Columbia Basin Herald, Stoke Space Technologies Vice President and Moses Lake Test Site and Operations Director Katherine Cruz said working in Moses Lake just makes sense due to the geographic location, history of aerotech development and partnerships with local organizations like construction companies, Big Bend Community College, Norco – the company providing fuel for testing rockets – the Port of Moses Lake and others.
“We have an employee on our team who came from Big Bend Community College. We hired him right out of school. He’s excellent. He learned all of the skills that we use here just right down the road, and he has already referred me to a lot of his classmates,” Cruz said in March.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Space Force awarded Stoke a National Security Space Launch contract that will expand the country’s access to space. The award reflects the growing demand for medium-lift capacity across the commercial and defense sectors. Stoke’s fully and rapidly reusable Nova launch vehicle is being developed to provide high-frequency access to orbit and support missions to, through, and from space, including satellite constellation deployment, in-space mobility and downmass.
The company is working to complete the refurbishment of Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. That site is anticipated to be active in early 2026. With the launch site secured and the new funding, Stoke is set to be ready to demonstrate what its new tech can do.
“This funding gives us the runway to complete development and demonstrate Nova through its first flights,” said Andy Lapsa, co-founder and CEO, Stoke. “We’ve designed Nova to address a real gap in launch capacity, and the National Security Space Launch award, along with our substantial manifest of contracted commercial launches, affirms that need. The fresh support from our investors and government partners enables our team to remain laser focused on bringing Nova’s unique capabilities to market.”