Phil Bono and plug nozzle advocates pre-existed ITAR…then the problem is that while the knowledge was out there–no one cared.

I think what consigned Truax to history’s dustbin was the belief that pressure fed rockets were “technically uninteresting.”

Stoke is my favorite NewSpace firm.

They are thankful, and hungry in equal measures.

Quite a bit of the video has parts and pieces fuzzed and the occasional tactically-located display easel in order to avoid showing sensitive (ITAR or proprietary) information.

Yes on all points. Once Nova is flying and recovering reliably, Stoke will need its own version of Kiko Dontchev to enable a faster and faster operations cadence. The customers will definitely be there so Stoke’s limits of consequence will be operational – post-flight vehicle inspection and minor maintenance, pad turnaround, securing more and more propellant, payload prep, etc. SpaceX landed its first Falcon 9 1st stage a decade ago but did not instantly jump to a three-figures annual launch rate. Stoke should be able to get to that level more quickly, to be sure, but it will need to put in the necessary work.

And by the early 2030s, Stoke should probably be roughly where it is now with Nova on a larger vehicle that scales the Nova technology. One of Lapsa’s recurrent themes throughout Dodd’s factory and test site tour was the fundamental scalability of the Nova technology.

At 3 tons to LEO, Nova will definitely be at the low end of the medium lift market. But there’s a lot of sats on the market that can fit in that, and if Stoke can fly it frequently enough, this could be a major market participant.