Pentagon announces conditional $150 million loans for Stoke Space and Rocket Lab — Ars Technica
In the United States, the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital announced conditional $150 million loans to space companies Stoke Space and Rocket Lab. The loans are intended to support the development of new medium-class launch vehicles and related infrastructure, Ars Technica reports.
The loan for Stoke Space is intended for the construction of a second launch pad at the U.S. Space Force base at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is planned for launches of the Nova Block 2 rocket, an upgraded version of the reusable Nova Pathfinder, which the company expects to debut next year.
Support for new rockets
The Rocket Lab loan is intended to help the company increase the flight rate of its partially reusable Neutron rocket. According to the office, the funds may be used to accelerate rocket production and preparation, expand the fleet of sea vessels for their recovery and transportation, and increase the output of composite structures and engines.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Both loans are conditional: to receive them, the companies must meet financial, legal, technical, investment and other requirements. The Office of Strategic Capital has also provided $150 million to LeoLabs, which develops commercial satellite tracking systems.
Demand for launches is growing
Since the 1990s, U.S. military space officials have followed a policy of assured access to space, under which the Pentagon supports at least two U.S. launch programs capable of placing national security satellites into orbit. The U.S. Space Force currently uses SpaceX's Falcon rockets and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rockets. Problems with Vulcan's solid-fuel boosters have twice led to the suspension of its flights over the past two years, causing several missions to be reassigned to SpaceX.
Space Systems Command forecasts a need for up to 249 medium- and heavy-class launches by the early 2030s, more than double the estimate from two years ago. Rocket Lab reported 117 contracted launches of Neutron and Electron rockets and also raised the price of a Neutron launch from $55 million to $70 million. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said: “Launch capacity is extremely constrained, and this is exactly the situation we forecast.”
