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GET STOKED! —


STOKE SPACE IGNITES ITS AMBITIOUS MAIN ENGINE FOR THE FIRST TIME


"THIS INDUSTRY IS GOING TOWARD FULL REUSABILITY. TO ME, THAT IS THE INEVITABLE
END STATE."

Eric Berger - 6/11/2024, 3:40 PM

Enlarge / A drone camera captures the hotfire test of Stoke Space's full-flow
staged combustion engine at the company's testing facility in early June.
Stoke Space

READER COMMENTS

163

On Tuesday, Stoke Space announced the firing of its first stage rocket engine
for the first time earlier this month, briefly igniting it for about two
seconds. The company declared the June 5 test a success because the engine
performed nominally and will be fired up again soon.

"Data point one is that the engine is still there," said Andy Lapsa, chief
executive of the Washington-based launch company, in an interview with Ars.

The test took place at the company's facilities in Moses Lake, Washington. Seven
of these methane-fueled engines, each intended to have a thrust of 100,000
pounds of force, will power the company's Nova rocket. This launch vehicle will
have a lift capacity of about 5 metric tons to orbit. Lapsa declined to declare
a target launch date, but based on historical developmental programs, if Stoke
continues to move fast, it could fly Nova for the first time in 2026.


BIG AMBITIONS FOR A SMALL COMPANY

Although it remains relatively new in the field of emerging launch companies,
Stoke has gathered a lot of attention because of its bold ambitions. The company
intends for the two-stage Nova rocket to be fully reusable, with both stages
returning to Earth. To achieve a vertical landing, the second stage has a novel
design. This oxygen-hydrogen engine is based on a ring of 30 thrusters and a
regeneratively cooled heat shield.

Lapsa and Stoke, which now has 125 employees, have also gone for an ambitious
design in the first-stage engine tested earlier this month. The engine, with a
placeholder name of S1E, is based on full-flow, stage-combustion technology in
which the liquid propellants are burned in the engine's pre-burners. Because of
this, they arrive in the engine's combustion chamber in fully gaseous form,
leading to a more efficient mixing.

Such an engine—this technology has only previously been demonstrated in flight
by SpaceX's Raptor engine, on the Starship rocket—is more efficient and should
theoretically extend turbine life. But it is also technically demanding to
develop, and among the most complex engine designs for a rocket company to begin
with. This is not rocket science. It's exceptionally hard rocket science.

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It may seem like Stoke is biting off a lot more than it can chew with Nova's
design. Getting to space is difficult enough for a launch startup, but this
company is seeking to build a fully reusable rocket with a brand new second
stage design and a first stage engine based on full-flow, staged combustion. I
asked Lapsa if he was nuts for taking all of this on.


ARE THESE GUYS NUTS?

"I’ve been around long enough to know that any rocket development program is
hard, even if you make it as simple as possible," he responded. "But this
industry is going toward full reusability. To me, that is the inevitable end
state. When you start with that north star, any other direction you take is a
diversion. If you start designing anything else, it’s not something where you
can back into full reusability at any point. It means you’ll have to stop and
start over to climb the mountain."

This may sound like happy talk, but Stoke appears to be delivering on its
ambitions. Last September, the company completed a successful "hop" test of its
second stage at Moses Lake. This validated its design, thrust vector control,
and avionics.

Enlarge / This engine is designed to power the Nova rocket.
Stoke Space



After this test, the company turned its focus to developing the S1E engine and
put it on the test stand for the first time in April before the first test
firing in June. Going from zero to 350,000 horsepower in half a second for the
first time had a "pretty high pucker factor," Lapsa said of the first fully
integrated engine test.

Now that this initial test is complete, Stoke will spend the rest of the year
maturing the design of the engine, conducting longer test firings, and starting
to develop flight stages. After that will come stage tests before the complete
Nova vehicle is assembled. At the same time, Stoke is also working with the US
Space Force on the regulatory process of refurbishing and modernizing Launch
Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.


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READER COMMENTS

163
Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering
everything from astronomy to private space to wonky NASA policy, and author of
the book Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX. A certified meteorologist, Eric
lives in Houston.

Advertisement




CHANNEL ARS TECHNICA

UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF QUANTUM LEAP WITH DONALD P. BELLISARIO

Today "Quantum Leap" series creator Donald P. Bellisario joins Ars Technica to
answer once and for all the lingering questions we have about his enduringly
popular show. Was Dr. Sam Beckett really leaping between all those time periods
and people or did he simply imagine it all? What do people in the waiting room
do while Sam is in their bodies? What happens to Sam's loyal ally Al? 30 years
following the series finale, answers to these mysteries and more await.

 * UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF QUANTUM LEAP WITH DONALD P. BELLISARIO

 * UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF WARHAMMER 40K WITH AUTHOR DAN ABNETT

 * SITREP: F-16 REPLACEMENT SEARCH A SIGNAL OF F-35 FAIL?

 * SITREP: BOEING 707

 * STEVE BURKE OF GAMERSNEXUS REACTS TO THEIR TOP 1000 COMMENTS ON YOUTUBE

 * MODERN VINTAGE GAMER REACTS TO HIS TOP 1000 COMMENTS ON YOUTUBE

 * HOW THE NES CONQUERED A SKEPTICAL AMERICA IN 1985

 * SCOTT MANLEY REACTS TO HIS TOP 1000 YOUTUBE COMMENTS

 * HOW HORROR WORKS IN AMNESIA: REBIRTH, SOMA AND AMNESIA: THE DARK DESCENT

 * LGR'S CLINT BASINGER REACTS TO HIS TOP 1000 YOUTUBE COMMENTS

 * THE F-35'S NEXT TECH UPGRADE

 * HOW ONE GAMEPLAY DECISION CHANGED DIABLO FOREVER

 * UNSOLVED MORTAL KOMBAT MYSTERIES WITH DOMINIC CIANCIOLO FROM NETHERREALM
   STUDIOS

 * US NAVY GETS AN ITALIAN ACCENT

 * HOW AMAZON’S “UNDONE” ANIMATES DREAMS WITH ROTOSCOPING AND OIL PAINTS

 * FIGHTER PILOT BREAKS DOWN EVERY BUTTON IN AN F-15 COCKPIT

 * HOW NBA JAM BECAME A BILLION-DOLLAR SLAM DUNK

 * LINUS "TECH TIPS" SEBASTIAN REACTS TO HIS TOP 1000 YOUTUBE COMMENTS

 * HOW ALAN WAKE WAS REBUILT 3 YEARS INTO DEVELOPMENT

 * HOW PRINCE OF PERSIA DEFEATED APPLE II'S MEMORY LIMITATIONS

 * HOW CRASH BANDICOOT HACKED THE ORIGINAL PLAYSTATION

 * MYST: THE CHALLENGES OF CD-ROM | WAR STORIES

 * MARKIPLIER REACTS TO HIS TOP 1000 YOUTUBE COMMENTS

 * HOW MIND CONTROL SAVED ODDWORLD: ABE'S ODDYSEE

 * BIOWARE ANSWERS UNSOLVED MYSTERIES OF THE MASS EFFECT UNIVERSE

 * CIVILIZATION: IT'S GOOD TO TAKE TURNS | WAR STORIES

 * SITREP: DOD RESETS BALLISTIC MISSILE INTERCEPTOR PROGRAM

 * WARFRAME'S REBECCA FORD REVIEWS YOUR CHARACTERS

 * SUBNAUTICA: A WORLD WITHOUT GUNS | WAR STORIES

 * HOW SLAY THE SPIRE’S ORIGINAL INTERFACE ALMOST KILLED THE GAME | WAR STORIES

 * AMNESIA: THE DARK DESCENT - THE HORROR FACADE | WAR STORIES

 * COMMAND & CONQUER: TIBERIAN SUN | WAR STORIES

 * BLADE RUNNER: SKINJOBS, VOXELS, AND FUTURE NOIR | WAR STORIES

 * DEAD SPACE: THE DRAG TENTACLE | WAR STORIES

 * TEACH THE CONTROVERSY: FLAT EARTHERS

 * DELTA V: THE BURGEONING WORLD OF SMALL ROCKETS, PAUL ALLEN'S HUGE PLANE, AND
   SPACEX GETS A CRUCIAL GREEN-LIGHT

 * CHRIS HADFIELD EXPLAINS HIS 'SPACE ODDITY' VIDEO

 * THE GREATEST LEAP, EPISODE 1: RISK

 * ULTIMA ONLINE: THE VIRTUAL ECOLOGY | WAR STORIES

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