Stoke Space

Stoke Space Technologies is an American space launch company based in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington.

Logo of Stoke Space

History

The company was founded by a group of former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees.[1]

In May 2020 the company won a $225,000 SBIR Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation to work on an integrated propulsion solution for reusable rocket upper stages.[2]

In February 2021 the company raised $9.1 million in seed funding in a round led by venture funds NFX and MaC Ventures.[1]

In December 2021 the company raised $65 million in a Series A round, funding development and testing of the upper stage of a reusable launch vehicle.[3] Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the multibillion-dollar clean-tech initiative created by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, was leading the round.[4]

Facilities

The company operates a rocket test facility on a 2.3-acre (0.93 ha) site near Moses Lake’s airport.[5]

Technology

Their reusable second-stage design uses aerospike engines and eliminates the brittle ceramic tiles that have required detailed inspections and lengthy refurbishments on other space vehicles.[6][7]

References
  1. "Stoke raises seed round to work on fully reusable rockets". 25 February 2021.
  2. "Relativity and Reach, Stoke and Starfish: Blue Origin veterans spark space startups". 10 September 2020.
  3. "Stoke Space raises $65 million for reusable launch vehicle development". 15 December 2021.
  4. "Rocket Report: SpaceX plans a Falcon 9 flurry, Bill Gates buys into rockets". 17 December 2021.
  5. "Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy leads $65M funding round for Stoke Space's reusable rockets". 15 December 2021.
  6. "STOKE Space Raises $65M Series a to Make Space Access Sustainable and Scalable". 15 December 2021.
  7. Volosín, Trevor Sesnic, Juan I. Morales (2023-02-04). "Full Reusability By Stoke Space". Everyday Astronaut. Retrieved 2023-02-05.

Further reading
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