Alternative rocket builder SpinLaunch completes first test flight

Alternative rocket builder SpinLaunch completes first test flight

Quote:

SpinLaunch, a start-up that is building an alternative method of launching spacecraft to orbit, conducted last month a successful first test flight of a prototype in New Mexico. The Long Beach, California-based company is developing a launch system that uses kinetic energy as its primary method to get off the ground – with a vacuum-sealed centrifuge spinning the rocket at several times the speed of sound before releasing. “It’s a radically different way to accelerate projectiles and launch vehicles to hypersonic speeds using a ground-based system,” SpinLaunch CEO Jonathan Yaney told CNBC. “This is about building a company and a space launch system that is going to enter into the commercial markets with a very high cadence and launch at the lowest cost in the industry.”

Wouldn't be usable for manned missions, but it could be a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way to launch satellites.

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3n1czgc