K2 Space, the CA-based startup building low-cost, high-power satellites optimized for MEO, has spent the last year buying down risk and burning up fuel in preparation for its first customer mission in February 2026.
Today, K2 announced a hotfire test of its Krypton-fed Hall-effect thruster, which for the first time demonstrated the 20 kW of power that will be necessary for its Gravitas mission in February to fly from LEO to MEO in under 90 days.
Changing the equation: K2 plans for customers to leverage low-cost launches to LEO, and use K2 buses to fly the final distance to MEO. The multi-orbit mission will allow for new globe-spanning constellations that will require fewer sats than constellations in LEO, according to K2.
By using K2’s 20 kW propulsion system to transit from LEO to MEO, K2-enabled constellations can deploy 10 satellites per launch, instead of one or two on direct flights to MEO.
“Launch vehicles like [SpaceX] Falcon 9 and eventually Starship will completely change the trade around mass versus cost,” K2 cofounder and CEO Karan Kunjur told Payload. “You have highly performant launch vehicles putting a lot of mass on orbit at a lower and lower price point, [meaning] that I no longer need to optimize the spacecraft for mass. I can now optimize it for cost.”
Flight heritage: In January, K2 notched its first in-space demo mission. The company told Payload that each of its components flying on the D-Orbit ION Satellite Carrier in LEO—including K2’s reaction wheel, flight computer, embedded avionics, and software systems—performed nominally.
When its propulsion system flies in February, K2 expects it to be the most powerful Hall-effect engine in orbit. K2 plans to use just 35% of the system’s total fuel to get from LEO to MEO, and to offer a 10-year life span once the satellite arrives at its operational destination.
Supply and demand: K2 has built a 180,000 sq ft facility in California to produce 100 of its Mega Class sats—capable of bringing 1,000 lb of payload to MEO—annually in the future.
The company is targeting a $15M price point for each of its MEO sat buses, and has driven down costs by in-housing 75% of its total production and choosing commercial inputs where reliable providers are abundant.
K2’s Gravitas mission is supported by a $60M STRATFI award from the US Space Force, and will host several military and commercial payloads that company officials hope will become full fledged constellation customers in the coming years.
“We have customers that are thinking about constellations that are going to be rolling out in the same environment, starting in ’27,” Kunjur said. “You can almost tie back each of the payloads we’re flying in [about] eight months to a customer that is contemplating anywhere between 10 to 50 satellites rolling out.”
