• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • NEWS:
  • SatNews
  • SatMagazine
  • MilSatMagazine
  • SmallSat News
  • |     EVENTS:
  • SmallSat Symposium
  • Satellite Innovation
  • MilSat Symposium

SatNews

  • HOME
  • Magazines
  • Events
  • Perspectives
  • Industry Calendar
    • IN PERSON
    • VIRTUAL
  • Subscribe

Stoke Space: Hopper 2 has landed

September 18, 2023

At Stoke Space’s test site in Moses Lake, Washington, the company successfully conducted a vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) developmental test flight of the firm’s reusable, second stage rocket.

The Stoke Space team, photo courtesy of the company.

During this test — known as Hopper2 — Stoke Space was able to successfully launch the Hopper test vehicle to an altitude of 30 feet and land at its planned landing zone following 15 seconds of flight. The test successfully demo’d the novel hydrogen/oxygen engine, regeneratively cooled heat shield as well as the differential throttle thrust vector control system, avionics, software, and ground systems.

This test was the last test in the Hopper technology demo program. All of the planned objectives were successfully completed and, also proven, was that the firm’s novel approach to robust and rapidly reusable space vehicles is technically sound. An incredible amount of data was captured that will enable the company to confidently evolve the vehicle design from a technology demonstrator to a reliable reusable space vehicle.

With this test campaign, several industry milestones were also attained: Stoke conducted the first flight test of a reusable VTVL rocket that uses differential throttling for attitude control — the first flight test of a reentry vehicle that uses an active regeneratively cooled heat shield — and, although this vehicle didn’t directly experience the heat from hypersonic atmospheric re-entry, it successfully operated at 100% of the expected heat load in a simulated environment.

In addition, Stoke Space became the fastest company to go from initial seed funding to demonstrating an orbital-class, vertical takeoff and vertical landing rocket, the second company in the world to fly a prototype of a fully reusable upper stage rocket and just the third U.S. company to develop a liquid hydrogen rocket engine.

With the innovative second stage design, the team at Stoke is attempting to do something that has never been done before: design and build a rocket that is 100 percent reusable with a 24 hour turnaround. To reach that goal, the company will now continue moving through the development program by increasing focus on the reusable first stage.

Filed Under: Hopper 2 second stage rocket, News, Reusable Rocket, Stoke Space, Technology Demonstrator, Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL)

Primary Sidebar

Most Read Stories

  • UPDATE #2: SpaceX schedules a 'double header' with Crew-7 and Starlink launches on Saturday
  • Viasat provides info regarding the Inmarsat-6 F2 anomaly
  • New Zealand's Zenno Astronautics to "give the space industry what it needs to progress" with the first superconducting electromagnet for space
  • UPDATE: Thursday, Hurricane Hilary causes a SpaceX launch scrub of 21 smallsat Starlinks
  • UPDATE: Scrubbed ULA's NRO and U.S. Space Force's SILENTBARKER/NROL-107

About Satnews

  • Contacts
  • History

Archives

  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020

Secondary Sidebar

x
Sign up Now (For Free)
Access daily or weekly satellite news updates covering all aspects of the commercial and military satellite industry.
Invalid email address
Notify Me Regarding ( At least one ):
We value your privacy and will not sell or share your email or other information with any other company. You may also unsubscribe at anytime.

Click Here to see our full privacy policy.
Thanks for subscribing!