Nova
Stoke Space
Stoke Space's medium-lift launch vehicle built for full reuse: 2,500 kg to LEO on Nova Pathfinder, 15,000 kg fully reusable on Nova Block 2.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Payload capacity
- 2,500 kg
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- Payload to LEO
- 2,500 kg (Nova Pathfinder, first flight configuration)
- Propellants
- Stage 1: LNG/LOX (7× Zenith, full-flow staged combustion); stage 2: LH2/LOX (Andromeda, expander cycle)
- Upper stage
- Andromeda engine with an actively cooled metallic heat shield; full reuse with Nova Block 2
- Test site
- Moses Lake, Washington
- Status
- Nova Pathfinder — technology demonstrator and first flight configuration; Nova Block 2 to follow
- Payload to LEO (Nova Block 2)
- 15,000 kg, 100% reusable
- Payload to GTO (Nova Block 2)
- 4,000 kg
About
Nova is Stoke Space’s medium-lift launch vehicle built for full and rapid reuse, designed with reusability as a core requirement from day one rather than an add-on feature. The vehicle features a uniquely innovative upper stage design: a rotating heat shield driven by an annular aerospike nozzle array that redistributes thermal energy uniformly during reentry, allowing the entire upper stage to be recovered propulsively after each mission.
The first stage burns liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen in seven Zenith full-flow staged-combustion engines; the upper stage burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the Andromeda expander-cycle engine. The rotating heat shield/aerospike concept was demonstrated in hover tests at Stoke’s Moses Lake, Washington test facility starting in 2023, making it the first full-scale upper stage engine/vehicle test of an annular aerospike configuration in the modern new space era.
Stoke rates Nova Pathfinder, the first flight configuration, at 2,500 kg to LEO, and the fully reusable Nova Block 2 at 15,000 kg to LEO and 4,000 kg to GTO. Stoke Space has developed the vehicle with minimal outside investment relative to peer companies, pursuing a capital-efficient design-and-test philosophy. The company is backed by investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures and GS Futures.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.