Impulse Space, SpaceX engine founder's startup, raises $500 million Series D to hire 200 new employees for spacecraft development

Impulse Space announced a $500 million Series D led by 137 Ventures and BANNER VC, with participation from Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Linse Capital. The company plans to use the capital to hire as many as 200 new employees and build and test more space vehicles.

Impulse develops Mira, a highly maneuverable spacecraft platform targeted at U.S. Space Force buyers, and Helios, a vehicle designed to carry satellites to high orbits. President and COO Eric Romo said the company's software teams are adopting AI coding tools, but for solving real-world engineering problems, deep learning models are not yet ready; the company instead relies on designing, analyzing, building, and testing hardware.

Mira completed its third flight late last year, though a navigation system problem caused it to expend much of its propellant early. The company is preparing a new Mira mission expected to launch before the end of the year.