Tag: Stoke Space
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AstroForge Plans 2027 Flight With AI in Control of Spacecraft
AstroForge plans to give its Solo artificial intelligence system control of a spacecraft on its Autonomy-1 mission in early 2027. The asteroid mining company said the vehicle will operate without commands from Earth after launch on the first flight of Stoke Space’s Nova Pathfinder rocket. Before then, AstroForge intends to fly Solo in a monitoring…
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Stoke Space Raises $1 Billion, Targets Early 2027 Debut for Fully Reusable Nova Rocket
Stoke Space announced on September 8 that it completed the initial closing of a $1 billion Series E financing round, bringing its total capital raised to $2.3 billion. The Kent, Washington-based company will use the funding to prepare its fully reusable Nova Pathfinder rocket for a first orbital launch in early 2027, expand production and…
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SpaceX and Blue Origin Withdraw From Paris Space Summit After White House Warning
SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space and Starcloud withdrew from French President Emmanuel Macron’s International Space Summit in Paris after the White House warned that participation could be interpreted as support for European Union space policies. France’s government confirmed the four withdrawals on September 3, 2026, ahead of the September 9–10 event. The cancellations remove two…
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SpaceX Alumni Have Founded More Than 1,300 Companies, Data Shows
SpaceX’s influence on the space industry extends well beyond its launch vehicles and spacecraft, with new data indicating the company has become a major source of entrepreneurial talent across multiple technology sectors. According to data compiled by Crustdata from publicly available sources and shared with Payload, approximately 1,330 former SpaceX employees have gone on to…
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NASA backs dozens of projects on the space frontier, including some with Northwest connections
An artist’s conception shows the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration) NASA has selected proposals from 37 companies, including several with Seattle-area connections, to further its plans to establish a long-term presence on the moon and enable human exploration of Mars. The companies applied to partner with NASA under…
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Stoke Space completes Nova Stage 1 structural verification
Stoke Space completed proto-qualification of the first stage of its Nova rocket at its testing site in Moses Lake, Washington, in early June 2026. This milestone paves the way for the debut of the medium-lift Nova vehicle targeted for the end of 2026 from the historic Launch Complex-14 (LC-14) in Cape Canaveral. Nova Stage 1…
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Stoke Space Nova Booster Arrives Moses Lake for Debut Launch
What’s Next for Stoke Space After Nova Booster Reaches Moses Lake? Stoke Space has transported its Nova rocket’s first stage booster to its Moses Lake, Washington test facility, marking a critical milestone toward the company’s inaugural orbital launch attempt. The 100-foot-tall first stage represents the lower half of Stoke’s fully reusable Nova vehicle, designed to…
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Stoke Space Raises Additional $350 Million Ahead of Nova Rocket Debut
U.S. launch startup Stoke Space has secured an additional $350 million in funding, extending the $510 million Series D round announced in October and bringing its total capital raised to $1.34 billion. The Washington-based company said it had sufficient funding at the end of last year to support the first few flights of its reusable…
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Stoke Space adds $350M to funding round as it gets ready for the first launch of its reusable rocket
A propellant tank takes shape at Stoke Space’s rocket factory in Kent, Wash. (Stoke Space Photo) Kent, Wash.-based Stoke Space Technologies says it has added another $350 million to its previously announced Series D financing round, bringing the amount raised in the round to $860 million. The fresh funding will go toward completing activation of…
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Our annual power ranking of US rocket companies has changes near the top and bottom
Which US rocket companies achieved the most during 2025? Once again, Ars Technica is here to provide some answers in the form of our annual power ranking of US launch companies. We began doing this in 2022 and have since put out a top-10 list every year (see 2023 and 2024). Our intent, as always,…