In many ways, Elon Musk may be one of the most influential figures driving technological progress in the U.S. today—not only through his own ventures but also by inspiring formidable competitors through rivalry. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin emerged partly from competition with Musk in space exploration, while Bezos’ recent AI venture is seen as a response to Musk’s xAI. Similarly, the feud between Musk and Sam Altman has not only led to the creation of xAI but also Altman’s brain-computer interface company, Merge Labs. Now, it appears to be pushing Altman toward the space industry.
According to a December 3 report, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman approached rocket manufacturer Stoke Space this summer to explore a potential controlling stake through a series of equity investments, with the total deal size potentially reaching billions of dollars. Although discussions are currently inactive, the move signals Altman’s serious consideration of entering the space launch sector, directly competing with Musk’s SpaceX.
Founded in 2019 by former Blue Origin engineers Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman, Stoke Space is developing the Nova rocket, aiming for a more ambitious goal than SpaceX: full reusability of both the first and second stages. The Nova rocket features a regeneratively cooled heat shield and a full-flow staged combustion engine, capable of delivering 3 tons to low Earth orbit in reusable mode and 7 tons in expendable mode—filling the market gap between Rocket Lab’s Electron and SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
In October, just months after Altman’s approach, Stoke secured $510 million in Series D funding, plus $100 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. The lead investor, U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT), focuses on national security-related technologies, backing firms like Shield AI and Anduril Industries. Notably, Stoke was selected alongside Rocket Lab for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program, competing for $5.6 billion in contracts over the next decade—a rare feat for a company yet to conduct its maiden flight.
Why is Altman interested in rockets? He has repeatedly voiced ambitions for space-based data centers. In a June podcast, he speculated that the world might eventually be covered in data centers, suggesting that building a Dyson sphere could make terrestrial facilities obsolete. Others, including Google, Starcloud, and China’s Zhijiang Lab, share this vision, with some projects already advancing faster.
While talks with Stoke stalled—possibly due to OpenAI’s pressing challenges, including delayed monetization projects amid competition from Google’s Gemini—Altman hasn’t abandoned space. He’s an investor in Longshot Space, an Oakland-based firm developing a radical launch system: a massive pneumatic cannon using compressed gas to accelerate payloads. Longshot’s horizontal launch tube, spanning hundreds of meters, could slash costs to $10–$150 per kilogram, far below SpaceX’s $6,500/kg for Falcon 9 rideshares. However, its extreme acceleration (600–700 G) limits it to hardened payloads.
Longshot has achieved 4.6 Mach in lab tests and is constructing a 500-meter facility in Nevada, targeting 5 Mach. Orbital launches would require 25–30 Mach, necessitating a ~10 km tube. Backed by $5 million from the U.S. Air Force and investors like Draper Associates, Longshot represents another front in Altman’s potential clash with Musk.
Should Altman enter the launch market via Stoke, Longshot, or another avenue, it would pit him against Musk in SpaceX’s core domain. The outcome of this AI-space rivalry remains to be seen.
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