Stoke Space’s approach to full reuse is easiest to understand when you can actually see the hardware. During an exclusive post-Series E tour of the company’s 168,000-square-foot headquarters outside Seattle, CEO Andy Lapsa walks us through the evolution of Nova—from the Hopper demonstrator that first proved Stoke’s second-stage architecture to the flight hardware now being prepared for orbital testing.
We cover:
How Stoke is scaling Nova from the three-ton Pathfinder to the 15-ton Block 2
• What changes and what stays the same in Block 2’s propulsion architecture
• How Stoke plans to ramp Pathfinder production while developing Block 2 in parallel
• What remains before Pathfinder ships for final testing and its first orbital flight
• Why Stoke is expanding its manufacturing and testing footprint following the $1 billion Series E
…and much more…
• Chapters •
00:00 – Trailer
01:23 – First public reveal / Block 2 announcement
05:22 – Liquid cooling / full rapid reuse
02:53 – Hopper flew at Moses Lake
09:23 – 12 turbopumps, engine-out capability
11:33 – Not betting on a miracle
13:28 – Same Zenith engine, next variant
15:02 – 100,000 pound thrust engine
17:14 – Full-flow staged combustion — only done once before
20:41 – 10,000 seconds of test time
22:48 – Ships out to Moses Lake, hot fire, go to orbit
28:27 – 5 meter fairing — Falcon 9 class
29:29 – Flight vehicle final checkouts / shipping to Moses Lake
33:16 – Brittle materials problem / ceramic tiles
33:29 – Full rapid reuse — pole position / Shuttle comparison
35:30 – The founding question / aha moment
37:25 – We can take it higher / not thermal limited
39:29 – Building both in parallel
39:51 – 75 to 550 acre expansion
• Show notes •
Stoke’s’ website — https://www.stokespace.com/
Stoke’s’ socials — https://twitter.com/stoke_space
Mo’s socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam
Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/
• About us •
Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies reshaping industry, national security, and the global balance of power.
Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload, Tectonic, Ignition, and Decoding Bio, the show covers space, defense, energy, biotech, and the technologies shaping what comes next.
We sit down with founders, investors, government officials, scientists, and military leaders to understand what they’re building, why it matters, and where these industries are headed. From new companies and breakthrough technologies to capital, policy, and geopolitics, Valley of Depth goes deep on the forces shaping the future.
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- Ignition: www.ignition-news.com
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