NASA Later This Year Will Test A Sophisticated Catapult That Can Throw Payloads Into Space

NASA is testing startup SpinLaunch's kinetic launcher soon, (photo: SpinLaunch Doc)

JAKARTA - NASA is soon testing startup SpinLaunch's kinetic launcher, a giant circular accelerator that aims to shoot a 200-kilogram satellite into space.

The California-based startup aims to develop the Suborbital Accelerator Launch System, which will be test flighted later this year with NASA, with the hope of launching its first orbital payload by 2025.

The way the launcher works is to spin the carbon fiber arm at up to 8,000 kilometers per hour (5,000 mph) in a steel vacuum chamber of 91 meters in diameter.

At hypersonic speeds, it will propel a launch vehicle containing a satellite into the sky, allowing it to reach orbit faster than a conventional rocket.

Melansie ZDNet, Wednesday, April 13, once above the stratosphere, the payload will deploy a small amount of propulsion to provide a final push to reach the required position in orbit.

SpinLaunch claims its system does not require very modern materials science or technology, and can be built using existing industrial hardware and commonly available materials. If successful, the system could reduce the cost of sending payloads into orbit.

"SpinLaunch offers unique suborbital flight and high-speed testing services, and the recent launch agreement with NASA marks an important turning point as SpinLaunch shifts focus from technology development to commercial offerings," said SpinLaunch founder and CEO Jonathan Yaney.

"What started as an innovative idea to make spaces more accessible has materialized into a technically mature and game-changing approach to launch."

SpinLaunch conducted the first test flight of its launch system in October 2021 from its test site at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

Objects that have been hurled into the sky have velocities of more than 1,600 kilometers per hour, although none have yet reached orbit.