Impulse Space has raised a large amount of new funding as high-profile investors are convinced that orbiting satellites will soon become a high-demand service.
The startup, founded by Tom Mueller three years ago, announced a $150 million Series B round on Tuesday. Impulse is developing a family of Orbital Transfer Vehicles (OTVs) that can adjust satellite positions in space after being launched by a rocket. While a handful of other companies are developing OTVs, Impulse says its product stands out as a chemical propulsion system that provides very high delta-v (velocity variation) capabilities.
The company has announced two OTVs so far. One is Mira, which provides last-mile delivery where the spacecraft is unloaded during ride-share launches, and a larger, high-energy kick stage called Helios, which moves the spacecraft from low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit (GEO). ) will be completed within 24 hours. This is much faster than the time-consuming traditional options of paying for a SpaceX Falcon Heavy to fly directly to GEO, or paying Rocket Lab to drop it into a precise orbit using an Electron rocket, or with a lower delta. V pushes to GEO over several months.
“The satellite market demands improved maneuverability and faster orbital responsiveness, which requires Impulse Space’s powerful, high delta-V vehicles,” Founders Fund partner Scott Nolan said in a statement. “Tom has built a team with deep expertise in mission-critical technology innovation, positioning the company to reliably deliver services while driving the future of space transportation.”
Mueller is well known in the space industry. He was a founding employee of SpaceX and eventually became CTO of Propulsion. There, he led the development of the Merlin rocket engine that powers the Falcon 9 rocket and the Draco thruster that powers the Dragon spacecraft. He left SpaceX in November 2020 and founded Impulse less than a year later.
Since then, the company has achieved several key milestones, including a successful first mission that flew in November 2023. LEO Express-1 saw Mira enter orbit for the first time. The mission was completed in nine months, during which Mira successfully deployed its customer’s payload and completed the largest orbital ascent ever by an OTV (150 kilometers in 75 seconds) on its first flight, the company said.
There are strong signals that the Department of Defense is also interested in this capability. Impulse received several awards earlier this year, including two Small Business Innovation and Research grants under the Tactical Responsive Space Initiative from the U.S. Space Force. The program is designed to solicit capabilities from private industry to help the Space Force move faster in orbit.
The startup has grown to more than 140 employees and operates primarily out of a 60,000-square-foot facility in Redondo Beach, California.
Impulse is now focused on its second mission, LEO Express-2. LEO Express-2 will see Mira deploy and host payloads for several unnamed customers later this year. The upgraded version of Mira is expected to make its first launch in 2025, while Helios is scheduled to make its first flight in 2026.
The round was led by Founders Fund and includes participation from existing investors Lux Capital and Spring Tide, as well as new investors such as DCVC. Other participants include 137 Ventures, Airbus Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, Elysium, First Principles Group, Island Green, Overmatch, RTX Ventures, Tamarack Global, and Trousdale Ventures.
The new funding follows a $45 million Series A that closed in July 2023.
