Launch is Not Solved Yet, with Andy Lapsa (CEO, Stoke Space)

Stoke Space was founded around a simple but radical belief: launch is not solved until rockets are fully and rapidly reusable. That thesis is now getting much bigger. Stoke has raised another $1 billion, bringing total capital raised to $2.3 billion, and is unveiling a new 15-ton-class version of Nova designed to be fully reusable. In his first sit-down interview following the announcement, Andy Lapsa joins Valley of Depth from Stoke Space’s headquarters outside Seattle. We got an exclusive first look at the company’s new plans before the news was made public, sitting down with Andy to unpack the $1 billion fundraise, the new 15-ton Nova, why Stoke is making such an aggressive bet on full reuse, and why he believes launch capacity could become one of the biggest constraints on the growth of the space economy. We also cover: What the new $1 billion financing enables Why launch remains unsolved despite SpaceX’s success Why full reuse may matter as much for reliability as it does for cost How Stoke plans to manufacture Pathfinder while developing the larger Nova simultaneously Why payload-agnostic launch could become increasingly valuable as launch providers vertically integrate The long-term opportunities in downmass, in-space manufacturing, compute, and deep-space transportation What Stoke needs to prove across its first three orbital flights …and much more. • Chapters • 00:00 – Trailer 01:04 – New developments at Stoke 02:16 – The Nova product family 02:55 – Nova block 2 08:19 – Meeting with Jared Isaacman 09:48 – Where Stoke is going to be investing their newly raised $1b of capital 12:12 – Stoke's future production capacity 13:44 – Was this the last private funding round for Stoke? 14:33 – What Andy wanted Stoke to be in 2019 when he founded Stoke 22:47 – The marginal drop with rapid reuse 23:46 – Why are rockets still so hard? 26:17 – Why build a full-flow staged combustion for your first stage? 29:14 – Technical hurdles that are left to solve 31:17 – Second stage 35:05 – Stoke's Metallic alloy based heat shield vs ceramic heat shield 38:01 – The doors that Stoke's heat shield will open 39:51 – The state of the launch industry. Are we screwed in the short term? 45:31 – From launch abundance to panic 46:39 – Had Andy ever thought about redesigning a rocket? 49:00 – Payload agnostic 51:36 – New application layer for Stoke's block 2 59:07 – Andy's advice to new players in the rocket space 1:01:20 – What Keeps Andy up at night? 1:02:29 – What happens after Block 2's mission success? 1:06:31 – When should we expect the first flight of the Block 2? 1:06:57 – In the movie about Stoke, who plays Andy? 1:07:54 – What does Andy do for fun? • Show notes • Stoke’s’ website — https://www.stokespace.com/ Stoke’s’ socials — https://x.com/stoke_space Mo's socials — https://x.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. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com