{"id":17039,"date":"2026-03-31T00:09:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/portal-spaces-mini-nova-payload-goes-into-orbit-to-test-technologies-for-maneuverable-space-vehicles\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:09:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:09:43","slug":"portal-spaces-mini-nova-payload-goes-into-orbit-to-test-technologies-for-maneuverable-space-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/portal-spaces-mini-nova-payload-goes-into-orbit-to-test-technologies-for-maneuverable-space-vehicles\/","title":{"rendered":"Portal Space\u2019s \u2018Mini-Nova\u2019 payload goes into orbit to test technologies for maneuverable space vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sends Portal Space Systems\u2019 \u201cMini-Nova\u201d technology demonstration payload and more than 100 other payloads into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (SpaceX Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems has made its first foray into Earth orbit, in the form of a piggyback payload that will test technologies for highly maneuverable space vehicles.<\/p>\n

The instrument package, which is about the size of a tissue box, was one of 119 payloads sent into orbit at 4:02 a.m. PT today from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for SpaceX\u2019s Transporter-16 satellite rideshare mission. Portal\u2019s \u201cMini-Nova\u201d payload was attached to Momentus\u2019 Vigoride-7 orbital service vehicle for the ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n

Minutes after launch, the Falcon 9\u2019s first-stage booster landed autonomously on a drone ship that was stationed in the Pacific. Meanwhile, the second stage proceeded to orbit and deployed Vigoride-7 and other spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said for a long time that a company only really becomes a space company once it gets to space, and with last night\u2019s launch out of Vandenberg, that\u2019s now true for Portal,\u201d the company\u2019s co-founder and CEO, Jeff Thornburg, said in a LinkedIn post.<\/p>\n

\"Model
The Mini-Nova technology demonstration payload is about the size of a tissue box. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe know that Mini-Nova is healthy, but it will be a few days before we get to download telemetry,\u201d Thornburg told GeekWire in an email.<\/p>\n

Mini-Nova will remain attached to Vigoride-7 for its demonstration mission. Over the next six months, Portal will use the payload to test the \u201cbrains and critical power systems for our upcoming Starburst and Supernova vehicles,\u201d Thornburg said.<\/p>\n

Both of those vehicles will be capable of maneuvering rapidly in orbit to rendezvous with other objects in space for a variety of purposes \u2014 including surveillance and space domain awareness, in-space servicing and space-junk disposal. Supernova will make use of an innovative solar thermal propulsion system that could cut the time required for orbital maneuvers from weeks to hours.<\/p>\n

Thornburg said the first Starburst vehicle is due for launch as early as October on SpaceX\u2019s Transporter-18 mission. The first Supernova vehicle is expected to be ready for flight in 2027.<\/p>\n

Portal was founded in 2021 and has received millions of dollars in support from the U.S. Space Force and the Department of Defense. Last year, the startup raised $17.5 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sends Portal Space Systems\u2019 \u201cMini-Nova\u201d technology demonstration payload and more than 100 other payloads into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (SpaceX Photo) Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems has made its first foray into Earth orbit, in the form of a piggyback payload that will test technologies for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,642,316],"class_list":["post-17039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-portal-space-systems","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}