Stoke Space Technologies is an American space launch company based in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington. The company was founded by a group of former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees. Stoke Space is developing a fully and rapidly reusable space launch vehicle called Nova, and is focusing on its second stage. Stoke Space's reusable second-stage uses a single engine with 30 thrust chambers around the circumference of the vehicle, along with a center passive bleed to create an aerospike engine-like effect. Additionally, the center bleed acts as a heat shield during re-entry, eliminating the need for brittle ceramic tiles that have required detailed inspections and lengthy refurbishments on other space vehicles, like the Space Shuttle orbiter.