Logistics
The full spine, with up to 50 small satellites and/or CubeSat dispensers mounted around it, each on a Fly Adapter. Up to 2,500 kg in total.
Animation: Lightning, our reusable launcher, climbs on nine Phoenix engines, drops its first stage, fires three vacuum Phoenix engines into orbit, opens its hinged fairing and releases eight satellites that spread out along a wide orbital arc.
Space Made
Cheap, Easy,
and Fast.
Fully reusable rockets on a fixed schedule. Lightning will carry up to 2,750 kg to orbit every Tuesday and Thursday, for a flat $5,000 per kilogram.
What Lightning Offers
- $5,000/kg
Published Prices
Shared flights at $5,000 per kilogram, or the whole vehicle for a flat $13.75 million. Book a date, mass and orbit online or through our API.
- 2 per week
Fly When You Are Ready
Two pads, one hangar and a 48 hour turnaround mean a ready satellite does not wait a year for a seat.
- 100% reused
Nothing Thrown Away
The booster is caught by the launch tower, the upper stage is hooked and netted in our recovery arena, and the hinged fairing never leaves the rocket.
- Printed Engines
Built for a Fleet
Every Stellar engine is 3D printed, so we can produce and maintain Phoenix engines at the volume a twice-weekly launch rate needs.
Launch on
Your Schedule
Fixed departures every Tuesday and Thursday. Most flights go to Low Earth Orbit, with a sun-synchronous flight after every three to four. Book by mass, like a seat on a flight. Bars show how full each flight is.
Small satellites are being built faster than launch capacity is growing, and most still ride as secondary payloads on a date and orbit someone else chose. The U.S. military wants the opposite: Tactically Responsive Space, the ability to put a satellite up on short notice.
Stellar is building a rocket for both. Lightning brings back both stages and its fairing after every flight, so the hardware flies again instead of being rebuilt. That is what makes a flat price per kilogram and two flights a week possible.
A predictable, fixed schedule and a low published price open launch to the whole range of small and medium satellites, from 50 kg smallsats to 2,750 kg spacecraft. Lightning adds capacity the market does not have today, instead of leaving satellites waiting for leftover room on someone else’s rocket.
See How Lightning FliesChameleon
Payload Rack
One rack on Lightning's second stage, rebuilt for each flight. A modular spine holds rideshare satellites around its sides, and a movable top deck, the Upper Stump, carries a larger primary. Every payload connects through the same click-on adapter, so the rack changes shape without new hardware for each customer.
Hybrid
The Upper Stump sits partway up a shorter spine. A primary rides on top on a Dragonfly Adapter, with rideshare satellites below it on Fly Adapters.
Heavy
The spine comes off and one satellite of up to 2,750 kg rides on a Dragonfly Adapter. The customer buys the whole vehicle and picks the orbit.
Three Rockets,
One Launch Service
Each phase flies the technology the next one depends on, so by the time we build Lightning, every major system has already flown. Phase 3 is the product. Phases 1 and 2 are how we get there without betting everything on one first flight.
Each program budget covers research and development, hardware, and room for many failures while we perfect that phase's systems for the next one. See the Phase 1 Breakdown
The Guinea Pig
In Development · Late 2027Our first rocket and our flying test bench. A 600 kg suborbital vehicle on our Big Piggy kerosene and liquid oxygen engine, built to reach the 100 km edge of space. Its flight data checks our simulations against reality and flight-tests the guidance, payload mount and software that Lightning will inherit.
$500KProgram Budget
Spark
Next · Orbital Demonstrator · Complete by Late 2029A smaller Lightning that can reach orbit with up to 100 kg. Nine Firebird engines on the first stage and three vacuum-optimized Firebirds on the second, fed by battery-powered electric pumps. Spark flies no paying customers: it is our test vehicle, where we can afford crashes while we prove every Lightning system, from the tower catch to the arena landing.
$25MProgram Budget
Lightning
The Product · Operational by Late 2031Our commercial launch service. A fully reusable rocket that carries up to 2,750 kg to Low Earth Orbit for a flat $5,000 per kilogram, booked online and flying twice a week. The launch tower catches the booster and the upper stage is hooked and netted in our recovery arena, so nothing is thrown away.
$5,000/kgTarget Price
2 / weekFlight Cadence Target
48 hoursPad Turn Target
$250MProgram Development Budget
Mission 001
The first flight of The Guinea Pig: a 600 kg rocket on our Big Piggy engine, flying to at least 100 km, the edge of space, to turn our simulations into measured flight data.
Late 2027 · Target Window
Launch site: FAR, Mojave, California
Launch site: FAR, Mojave, California
Where the Work Stands
- 63+
- Big Piggy engine design iterations
- Complete
- Big Piggy engine design: CAD complete and 3D print ready, to be printed in Inconel 718
- 112.9 km
- Simulated apogee, 103 to 124.2 km across the sweep
- In Progress
- Big Piggy Engine Test Stand
These are design and simulation results, not flight hardware yet. We are building the Big Piggy engine test stand now; hardware photos and hot-fire data will be published as it comes online.
Engine Design
Complete
Test Stand
In Progress
Hot Fire
Planned
Integration
Planned
Launch
Late 2027
Join the Team
Explore Phase 1 openings across engineering, manufacturing, operations and growth.
Prior rocketry and engineering experience is not required, but it is heavily recommended. Bring curiosity, care and the willingness to build.
Apply NowPropulsion
Propulsion Lead
Coordinate propulsion development and delivery.
Engine Design Engineer
Design and analyze the liquid-propellant engine.
Feed Systems Engineer
Develop propellant feed systems and related hardware.
Testing & Instrumentation Engineer
Plan propulsion tests, instrumentation, and data collection.
Structures & Manufacturing
Structures & Manufacturing Lead
Coordinate structures and manufacturing delivery.
Vehicle Structural Engineer
Design and analyze the vehicle structure.
Tank Structural Engineer
Develop tank structures and their vehicle interfaces.
Mechanical / CAD Engineer
Develop CAD, mechanical designs, drawings, and component interfaces.
Manufacturing Engineer
Plan manufacturing and coordinate suppliers and machining resources.
Manufacturing Technician
Fabricate, machine, and assemble hardware.
Assembly & Integration Engineer
Assemble the vehicle and integrate hardware systems.
Avionics & Recovery
Avionics & Recovery Lead
Coordinate avionics and recovery development.
Avionics / Electrical Engineer
Develop electrical power, sensors, and wiring.
Embedded Systems Engineer
Develop flight computers, embedded systems, and data acquisition.
Recovery & Telemetry Engineer
Develop recovery, telemetry, and communications systems.
Software & Controls
Safety & Operations
Something Else?
If your skills can help us build and fly, we want to hear from you.
Build with Us
Manufacturing partners, engineering advisors and program supporters help turn designs into tested hardware.
Work with StellarDiscuss a mission, share your expertise or follow the next build.
[email protected]Opens an email request.
Tell Us About
Your Mission
For a future launch enquiry, share your payload, orbit and timing.