Free Republic

U.S. startup SpinLaunch — the company that aims to disrupt the rapidly-growing satellite launch industry by catapulting payloads into space with minimal rocket fuel — has just passed a massive test.

It’s called SpinLaunch, and it’s a novel approach to launching small payloads into orbit. The idea of a kinetic launch system translates to spinning a payload in a centrifuge to over 1,000 miles an hour and then releasing it for its journey to the stars. The concept requires no onboard fuel, so there’s no danger of explosions, and since it’s completely electrical, it offers a sustainable solution that doesn’t pollute the environment. “The SpinLaunch Orbital Launch System is a fundamentally new way to reach space,” states the company website. “The velocity boost provided by the accelerator’s electric drive results in...

(snip) a cryptic startup called SpinLaunch starts suborbital test flights of a rocket that is launched using an enormous centrifuge. Here's the gist: A centrifuge the size of a football field will spin a rocket around in circles for about an hour until its speed eventually exceeds 5,000 miles per hour. At that point, the rocket and its payload will feel forces 10,000 times stronger than gravity. When the centrifuge finally releases the rocket at launch speed, it should, practically speaking, fly through the stratosphere until it fires its engines at the periphery of our atmosphere. (snip) SpinLaunch hopes its...

Silicon Valley startup SpinLaunch snagged $35 million in "Series A" funding from some big-name investors, including Airbus Ventures, GV (previously Google Ventures) and Kleiner Perkins, the company announced Thursday (June 14). Another group of investors had already chipped in $5 million. The details of that approach remain mysterious; SpinLaunch has been in stealth mode since its 2015 founding. (The company's website requires a login.) But the basics involve accelerating "the launch vehicle to hypersonic speeds using ground-based electricity," SpinLaunch CEO Jonathan Yaney said in the same statement. "Applying the initial performance boost from a terrestrial-based launch platform enables us to...