Kinetic Energy as a Space Launch System
SpinLaunch was created in 2014, by Jonathan Yaney, whose vision for space launch technology was to offer a method of rapidly and cost-effectively deploying small constellations of satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), using a revolutionary kinetic launch system.
Although it sounds like science fiction, SpinLaunch succeeded in demonstrating that its system, called the Suborbital Accelerator, could fire a rocket at a speed of 8,000 km/h, placing it in orbit without the need for traditional rockets.
To achieve this feat, the company created a vacuum chamber, inside which there is a mechanism called hypersonic anchor, similar to a shovel, which rotates, increasing the speed, holding at one end, the spacecraft or rocket, which will be propelled into outer space.
When the launch speed is achieved, the rocket is propelled, breaking a cover of the launch tunnel, allowing the vacuum chamber to be maintained during the entire pre-launch process.
During the month of October, in New Mexico, they achieved a successful liftoff, proving that their system can place objects in orbit. A scale prototype of what will be the definitive installation was used; it will be approximately 100 meters high. The launched rocket is only 3 meters tall. According to SpinLaunch officials, only 20% of the actual capacity of the suborbital accelerator was used.
The company is currently designing improvements to its orbital accelerator, seeking to reduce the use of fuel by four times, which would mean a cost reduction 10 times lower than that of space missions with conventional rockets used to date.
SpinLaunch explained that its orbital booster can launch payloads of about 180kg, which does not compare to large space rockets of 750 tons of which only 20 tons can be effectively launched into orbit. What is true is that SpinLaunch could perform several liftoffs per day, unlike other companies.
With more than 200 employees and the support of partners such as Airbus Ventures, Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, the company expects to put satellites into orbit and deliver payloads for space projects by 2025.
Learn more about SpinLaunch at their website https://www.spinlaunch.com/
