The company plans to launch its first satellite on a demonstration mission this year
Los Angeles startup K2 Space has raised $50,000,000 in funding to develop «mega-satellites». K2 Space is currently working on satellites that are compatible with heavy-duty and super-heavy rockets that are already on the market or planned for release in the coming years.
Founders and brothers Karan and Neil Kunjur plan to launch the first satellite on a demonstration mission as early as this year — two years after the founding of K2 Space. The latest funding round was led by technology investor Brad Gerstner and Alpine Space Ventures, joining previous $8.5 million in funding from First Round Capital and Republic Capital.
«Mega-satellites» from K2 Space have dimensions and characteristics corresponding to heavy and super-heavy rockets. With a market price of $15,000,000 each, these satellites are capable of carrying a payload of up to one ton. At this size, K2 will be able to accommodate 10 megasatellites in the Falcon 9 rocket. Potentially, these satellites will be capable of launching SpaceX's Falcon Heavy or United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rockets into space, as well as some that will enter the market in the coming years, including Starship from SpaceX and New Glenn from Blue Origin.
«The only way to reduce the cost in the last decade was to reduce the size. We found that with the new capabilities of rockets like Starship, there is an interesting opportunity to go in the opposite direction», — said Karan Kunjur.
Mega satellites will have a flexible design that allows customers to independently determine the configuration, payload mass, number of satellites and required amount of fuel.
The goal of K2 Space's upcoming mission is to demonstrate the performance of the Mega satellites to potential clients. The company has already established contacts and is negotiating with major commercial satellite operators. In addition, over the past eight months, K2 Space has already won approximately $6.5 million in Department of Defense contracts.
K2 Space currently has a 140 square meter manufacturing facility in California and has 28 employees, many of whom have SpaceX experience. With the help of the raised funding, K2 Space plans to build a new facility with a much larger area and increase the number of employees to more than 50 people for mass production of satellites.