Portal Space Systems Books Falcon 9 for 2028 Supernova Debut, Opens Rideshare Slots

Portal Space Systems has acquired a Falcon 9 to launch its first Supernova spacecraft in 2028 and will sell excess capacity on the vehicle to secondary payloads. The company announced the contract with SpaceX on August 20, pairing a technology demonstration of its solar thermal propulsion spacecraft with a commercial rideshare offering.

The mission, called Motus Via Sol, or "movement with the sun," will primarily test the Supernova spacecraft, which uses solar thermal propulsion to deliver high thrust and up to 6 kilometers per second of delta-v. Portal is partnering with Maverick Space Systems, a launch aggregator, to sell excess capacity on the launch for secondary payloads.

The partnership arrives as many satellite operators search for rides to orbit amid concerns that SpaceX will end its own dedicated rideshare program within a few years. Several companies said SpaceX is not accepting new reservations for rideshare missions beyond late 2028 or early 2029. Portal chief executive Jeff Thornburg said his own company was among those struggling to find launches. "We saw launch as a commodity that the industry thought was solved, or not scarce, suddenly becoming potentially more scarce," he said, citing limited market capacity.

The companies did not disclose how much rideshare capacity is available but said the mission can accommodate ESPA-class satellites and larger "cake-topper" satellites placed on top of the payload stack. Maverick will coordinate and integrate the secondary payloads, while Portal manages the overall mission and works directly with SpaceX. Maverick has arranged launches of more than 225 satellites. "This mission creates an extraordinary opportunity for rideshare customers," said Vidur Kaushish, Maverick's chief operating officer. "We're designing an optimized payload stack for Portal and bringing additional rideshare payloads to the mission, helping reduce launch costs for all mission partners."

Supernova's maneuverability gives the companies the option to change orbits after launch to deploy some payloads. "If we have a predominant rideshare partner that absolutely has to be somewhere, we can accommodate that and still meet our mission needs," Thornburg said. Kaushish added that Portal's ability to maneuver on orbit allows the selection of orbits valuable to customers. Thornburg stressed that testing Supernova remains the top priority. "My number one obligation is to our mission, our investors and our customers, and so that was really the driving factor here," he said.

Thornburg said the agreement with Maverick is intended to be a long-term partnership, with the potential to arrange rideshare opportunities on future Supernova launches on Falcon 9 or other vehicles. He also pointed to U.S. military interest in "sustained maneuver" in space that he argues both Starburst and Supernova can provide. "The momentum is only building for this rapid maneuverability, sustained maneuver capability, so it's the perfect time for us to be locking in launch opportunities to demonstrate this over the next couple of years."

Portal continues developing Supernova technologies. In March it flew Mini-Nova, a hosted payload on the Vigoride-7 spacecraft from Momentus, testing avionics, and Thornburg said those tests have been "flawless," with a possible six-month extension under consideration. The company's first spacecraft, Starburst-1, an ESPA-class satellite with 1 kilometer per second of delta-v, is scheduled to launch in October on SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. Portal, which raised $50 million in April, is moving into a larger production facility in Bothell, Washington, and expects 80 to 100 employees by year's end.