Portal Space Systems

Portal Space Systems is a Bothell, Washington-based spacecraft manufacturer developing Supernova — a maneuverable, solar-thermal spacecraft engineered for sustained delta-v, on-demand autonomy, and real-time mission control across orbital regimes. The company raised $50 million in a Series A round in 2026, led by a team that includes former SpaceX Propulsion Vice President leadership.

Supernova is built around Solar Thermal Propulsion (STP), a propulsion architecture that concentrates sunlight onto a compact thermal receiver using deployable and re-stowable mirror concentrators, generating thermal energy comparable to a compact nuclear reactor. The concentrated heat loads a thermal battery and drives a proprietary HEX Thruster — a 3D-printed single-component combining heat exchanger and nozzle with no internal interfaces or moving parts — to produce sustained thrust using a safe, storable monopropellant.

This architecture delivers 6 km/s of delta-v, on-standby taskability in minutes, and payload swap capability in under 24 hours, enabling cross-orbit maneuverability from LEO to cislunar space and back with a multi-year operational life. Use cases include national security (rapid response, space domain awareness, cislunar logistics), science and exploration (lunar insertion, orbital repositioning), and commercial operations (constellation maintenance, life extension, debris mitigation).

Portal has partnered with Paladin Space to launch the first commercially structured debris removal infrastructure, with Starlab as an early partner.