Portal Space Systems Uses SBIR to Develop Maneuverable, Refuelable Spacecraft
The Seattle-based startup is building highly maneuverable, refuelable spacecraft and has grown from a three-person team to about 45 employees with support from SBIR awards and partnerships with the U.S. Space Force.
Portal Space Systems, a Washington-based space company founded in 2021, is focused on a problem that has become increasingly urgent: helping spacecraft move quickly and deliberately once they are already in orbit. The company is adding employees, expanding manufacturing space, and using the Small Business Innovation Research program to advance its technology.
Start with a mission
Portal Space Systems co-founders Ian Vorbach and Jeff Thornburg have spent their careers in space. Vorbach trained as an astrophysicist and aerospace engineer before moving into the “new space” startup world. Thornburg brings more than 30 years of aerospace experience, including roles in the Air Force, at NASA, SpaceX, Stratolaunch, and Amazon’s Kuiper program.
The two first worked together at Stratolaunch. In October 2021, Thornburg reached out to Vorbach about tackling a new challenge: rapid maneuverability on orbit.
“It felt like a no-brainer. We were hearing from colleagues on orbit and reading the news about what our adversaries were doing, and how we can’t move anything on orbit very quickly for either commercial or defense applications.” - Jeff Thornburg
Product and innovation
When Portal launched, the founders were hearing from parts of the defense and commercial space community about a growing need for spacecraft that could continue maneuvering well beyond their initial placement in orbit. At first, that need was not widely recognized, and some investors saw the idea as “too Star Trek, Star Wars, Buck Rogers.” Today, that view has shifted as more customers look for dynamic, maneuverable spacecraft.
“In the last six months, the need for dynamic and maneuverable spacecraft has become one of the core driving principles of the Space Force.” - Ian Vorbach
Portal’s flagship spacecraft, Supernova, is designed for high maneuverability, multi-orbit operations, and refuelability. The company uses solar thermal propulsion to focus the sun’s energy and move fuel through a nozzle without burning it, allowing the spacecraft to move farther and faster while using less propellant. Portal is also building refuelable spacecraft so that a mission’s useful life is driven more by the hardware than by the amount of fuel loaded on launch.
“Spacecraft today on orbit move kind of like hot air balloons. We have essentially a fighter jet equivalent in our spacecraft.” - Jeff Thornburg
Support from SBIR and Space Force
From the beginning, Portal’s leaders knew that working with the U.S. Department of Defense would be essential, and that SBIR could be a key entry point. They engaged with Space Systems Command and connected with SpaceWERX, which runs SBIR programs for the Space Force. Those early touchpoints helped the team refine its plans and connect with the Space Force users who needed this capability.
Since receiving its first SBIR award in 2023, Portal Space Systems has advanced through multiple Phase I and Phase II efforts as it worked with Space Force partners to build out its technology. The company started with a Phase I award to study the problem and then moved into Phase II and follow-on efforts such as STRATFI.
“It allowed us to accelerate the tech development, to get to a product that could be used by our defense partners faster.” - Jeff Thornburg
SBIR also helped the company gain visibility inside a large defense system and build relationships with future users as the technology matured. Just as importantly, the awards helped validate the business for investors by showing that defense partners saw real potential in the company’s technology.
Results of growth
The company currently operates from a development facility in Bothell, Washington, and is moving into a new 52,000-square-foot facility designed to support production of up to 28 spacecraft per year.
“We started our first SBIR with three or four people. As we won and delivered on more Phase II work, it fed everything else—hiring, product development, investor interest. It created a loop that let us grow much faster than we could have on our own.” - Ian Vorbach
Portal expects headcount to grow from about 45 employees today to between 80 and 100 within a year, depending on contracts.
Looking ahead
As Portal expands its manufacturing and test capability, the company remains focused on supporting both defense and commercial missions with more maneuverable spacecraft. The new Bothell facility is intended to give the company the space and capacity to build at a larger scale as customer demand grows.
Portal’s next phase will center on increasing production, growing its team, and continuing to improve its spacecraft systems for future missions. With its SBIR work helping move the technology forward and its manufacturing footprint expanding in Washington, the company is preparing for its next stage of growth.