Portal Space Systems, based in Bothell, Washington, has raised $50 million in a Series A to accelerate development of highly maneuverable orbital spacecraft, including the Starburst spacecraft bus and the Rapidly deployable Supernova vehicle.

Portal plans to build up to four spacecraft per month by the end of 2027 and intends to expand its workforce from about 40 to roughly 80 by later this year to support a growing government and commercial pipeline.

The $50 million round was led by Geodesic Capital and Mach33, with participation from Booz Allen Ventures, ARK Invest, AlleyCorp and FUSE, and is aimed at advancing multi-orbit capability from LEO to cislunar.

The company targets a late-2026 launch of its first Starburst spacecraft on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission, with the first Supernova planned for 2027; 81% of Supernova components are shared with Starburst for flight heritage.

Portal is developing solar thermal propulsion for Supernova and a more traditional Starburst vehicle, with Starburst-1 sharing about 81% of its components with Supernova to enable rapid orbital maneuvers.

The announcement was made on April 9, 2026, and comes from Aviation Week’s Aerospace Daily & Defense Report as part of industry market intelligence.

Funding will support a new 52,000-square-foot production facility in Bothell to produce up to 12 Supernova and 16 Starburst vehicles per year once fully operational in June.

Portal envisions supporting NASA’s Artemis program with its Supernova platform, enabling rapid mobility between GEO and cislunar domains for logistics, experiments, communications and data.

The company is exploring expansions into orbital data centers and in-space logistics for Artemis, including potential lunar architectures.

The round was led by Geodesic Capital with participation from Cape Canaveral-area investors, highlighting notable aerospace financiers backing Portal.

The round will help Portal diversify its customer base, pursue defense and dynamic space operations, and explore international opportunities in Japan, Australia and Europe through tier-one and tier-two primes.

Supernova-1 is planned to fly next year, backed by $45 million from SpaceWERX, designed for rapid maneuverability to meet defense and commercial mission needs in various orbits.