Stoke Space lines up $150 million Pentagon loan for second Florida launchpad
Stoke Space · U.S. Department of War
The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital commits a $150 million conditional loan for Stoke Space's second Cape Canaveral launchpad.
what happened
The U.S. Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital signed a $150 million conditional loan commitment with Stoke Space on Oct. 26 to help fund a second launchpad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, per SpaceNews and Air & Space Forces Magazine. The pad would support Stoke's larger, fully reusable Nova Block 2 rocket, designed to carry up to 15 metric tons to low Earth orbit and targeted to debut in 2029, while the smaller Nova Pathfinder vehicle is still aiming for its first orbital launch from the company's existing pad in early 2027. The loan is not final: Stoke must still satisfy financial, legal, technical and other due-diligence conditions before it closes, and the financing would be paired with private capital, per the Department of War's own release.
why it matters
Government-backed debt financing for launch infrastructure, rather than a launch-services contract, gives the Pentagon a direct stake in expanding domestic pad capacity as it leans on commercial providers amid the Falcon 9 phase-out and Vulcan's grounding. For Stoke, which closed a $1 billion Series E in September, it is a funding source outside the usual venture pipeline tied specifically to a dedicated launch site.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Stoke Space, U.S. Department of War
- Category
- financial
- Impact
- major
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-10-26
- Published
- 2026-10-27 22:58 UTC