Portal Space Systems raised $17.5 million in one of the biggest early financing rounds for a space firm in the last ten years to fund the construction and demonstration of its first Supernova spacecraft.

The round was led by AlleyCorp, with Mach33, FUSE, First In, TFX, Offline Ventures, and Atypical also participating.

Champagne Supernova: Since its establishment in 2021, Portal has had a hectic few years.

• The first of the company’s in-house thermal propulsion systems, which provide nuclear propulsion capabilities without the need for a fission reactor, was printed.
• Thirty minutes outside of Seattle, Washington, it opened an 8,000-square-foot headquarters and propulsion testing facility.
• Several veterans of the space sector with backgrounds at Project Kuiper, Starlink, SpaceX, ULA, Amazon, Stratolaunch, and the NATO Allied Command Transformation were also employed by Portal.

Consequently, Supernova is expected to outperform almost everything else on the market, according to the firm and its investors.

According to a statement by AlleyCorp investor and former SpaceX engineer Brannon Jones, “[Supernova] will improve maneuverability in space by over an order of magnitude, while also significantly extending operational lifespans by enabling a more sustained presence in space.”

• LEO to MEO in minutes, LEO to GEO in hours, and LEO to cislunar space in days is the goal of the transorbital shuttle Supernova.
• Due to the spacecraft’s dynamic capabilities and interoperability with various launch providers, future clients will have a single platform to carry out a variety of commercial, defense, and scientific missions.
• A supernova may withstand radiation for up to five years while in orbit.

What comes next: Portal intends to use the seed round to speed up Supernova’s development and expand production in preparation for its mid-2026 debut.