The Futuristic Mass Accelerator That Can Fling Satellites Into Orbit
With minimal use of rocket fuel
Moving payloads into space is both dangerous and expensive. The current strategy is to use massive towers of condensed rocket fuel to propel objects into space. This rocket fuel is expensive, bad for the environment, and has a bad habit of exploding. The use of volatile rocket fuel is one of the biggest barriers to space commerce and space exploration. That is why a decade-old company, SpinLaunch, is working on a solution to this problem using a novel technology that sounds like something straight out of a science fiction novel.
The SpinLaunch system uses a series of magnets to accelerate a small rocket around a specialized disc. The small rocket reaches tremendous speeds here on the ground before being flung high into the air using a catapult. Only once the rocket is on a proper trajectory, high in the air, will it engage its boosters. The rocket then finishes the journey into Low Earth Orbit.
This system has a number of benefits over traditional spaceflight. It vastly reduces the amount of rocket fuel necessary, which cuts costs, cuts damage to the environment, and is safer. If SpinLaunch can reduce the cost of spaceflight, it can open a whole new realm of possibility for companies and governments to deliver payloads into…
