Impulse Space: Pioneering Space Infrastructure

Companies like SpaceX have fundamentally reshaped the space exploration landscape, reducing costs for both commercial and government organizations to dispatch objects into orbit. Successfully launching a satellite into space no longer requires multi-billion dollar investments in rockets and their related systems. Instead, the process is as straightforward as booking a several-million-dollar rideshare.

Alumni Ventures portfolio company Impulse Space is pioneering the next chapter in space logistics. Created by SpaceX founding employee Tom Mueller, Impulse Space will offer last-mile delivery, orbital maneuvering, and support services for all classes of payloads, with a near-term focus on low Earth orbit (LEO) and sights set on distant destinations such as Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO), the Moon, and Mars.

A New Generation of Space Infrastructure

One of the key factors spurring growth in commercial space exploration is the ability of companies such as SpaceX to drive down the cost of reaching space for both cargo and human beings. In the previous era of space exploration, safely reaching orbit was an unprecedented effort requiring intense collaboration between aeronautical contracts and the federal government.

But with the advent of privatized space flight, reaching LEO and beyond has become vastly more affordable and reliable. The next logical phase of this new reality is building out the infrastructure capable of supporting both crewed and uncrewed vehicles to efficiently route them to their destinations.

It is this generation of infrastructure that Impulse Space is developing. The company has developed a revolutionary space logistics model which mirrors delivery providers like FedEx. This will allow both private and public entities to easily deploy payloads to LEO and, eventually, destinations beyond. Mueller was integral in developing the propulsion systems in SpaceX’s flagship vehicles and is now bringing his expertise to this vital new industry.

How We Are Involved

Lakeshore Ventures (for the University of Chicago community) sponsored Alumni Ventures’ investment in Impulse’s $45 million Series A led by RTX Ventures (Raytheon). Additional AV funds also participated in the deal:

• 116 Street Ventures
• Comm Ave Ventures
• Congress Avenue Ventures
• Deep Tech Fund
• Green D Ventures
• Purple Arch Ventures
• Strawberry Creek Ventures
• Stadium Avenue Ventures
• Yoshino Ventures