Impulse Space is betting on a future where launch is cheap

The venture capital firm is leading the $20 million in seed funding for Impulse Space. The company started by a noted rocket scientist plans to use the funding to accelerate growth as it moves toward delivering its first vehicle.

Musk hired the first employee. He helped build a world-class propulsion department and led the development of the Merlin rocket engine. In order to take advantage of a future in which launch costs are substantially lower, the new company seeks to recognize how SpaceX is changing access to space.

Impulse Space was founded last September and will provide delivery services for satellites that are part of a mission. The company plans to expand its in-space transportation services to the Moon and beyond.

Doing more in space

Barry Matsumori, who recently joined as the company's chief operating officer, said that the company has about two dozen employees. With the new funding, the company will now seek to grow rapidly as it moves from its startup phase to a full-fledged commercial business. He was the senior vice president of sales and business development at the rocket company.

With his new company, he wants to move on from rocket engines that launch from Earth and to develop systems for the vacuum of space. The company isn't ready to discuss its specific technology, but the goal is to deliver the most efficient capability in the most efficient manner. The video was released earlier this month.

The leaders of Impulse Space believe that the launch company will eventually realize its goal of a large, fully re-usable rocket in Starship. The launch industry is changing in response to this. Matsumori was an advisory board member at Relativity Space for three years, and the company is trying to build a fully re-usable rocket with its Terran R vehicle. The New Glenn rocket will likely have a first and second stage.

Matsumori said that the cost per kilogram is going down, especially with the vehicles that are coming. And it's coming. The balance between what you do on Earth and what you do in space is starting to shift. That means that you are going to do more in space.

Efficient transportation

Launching services with sustainable delivery in space using green propellants and having vehicles with de-orbit capability will be offered by Impulse Space. Matsumori said the company understands that if a lot of satellites are going to be launching on these heavy-lift rockets, they will need to reach different destinations.

Matsumori said that one of the things he has always thought about is what will happen to the space economy if access to space is free. The answer is that there are some capabilities that were challenging before that. These industries are possible if the cost of access goes down.

The company envisions sustainable transportation from the Earth to the Moon in the form of a tug, as well as the storage and movement of propellant in the lunar environment. It will have to go somewhere once a company mines a space resource.