Revolutionary Technology Catapults Satellites into Space

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Just when you thought the delivery of satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) had been forever revolutionized by Elon Musk, a Long Beach, CA-based spaceflight tech development company comes up with the idea to use a centrifuge to literally fling satellites into space. The company, SpinLaunch, promises to be an alternative method for launching 440-pound LEO satellites into space using one quarter of the fuel, at one tenth of the cost, multiple times per day. 

Traditional fuel-based rockets use boosters that expend millions of cubic feet of methane or thousands of pounds of hydrogen. SpinLaunch, however, uses a ground-based, electric powered kinetic launch system, which relies on high-speed centrifugal forces — G forces — to propel the satellite into orbit, like a track and field athlete spinning and throwing the discus. 

Advances in carbon fiber and miniature electronics are the most relevant reasons why SpinLaunch was not possible until recently, the company said. It has developed and tested structures, mechanical assemblies, batteries, propulsion systems, and solar arrays with little increase in mass or cost. 

“It can be hard to imagine a delicate satellite surviving a kinetic launch,” SpinLaunch said. “Through testing, we have been able to demonstrate the impressive ability of satellite systems to readily handle the centripetal environment [of 10,000 to 20,000 G’s].”

On October 22, 2021, SpinLaunch’s Suborbital Accelerator, designed to operate from 800 to 5,000 mph, began propelling a variety of vehicles at various supersonic launch velocities from the test bed for the Orbital Launch System.

Now in development, the Orbital Launch System is a 300-foot diameter vacuum cylinder built on a hill at a 45-degree angle. It uses a carbon fiber tether, which spins the satellite at speeds of nearly 5,000 mph with minimal aerodynamic drag. Once launch speed is reached, the rocket-shaped capsule containing the satellite is released. With the aid of centrifugal force, it flies through the atmosphere into orbit.

With the communications industry planning to launch thousands of satellites, SpinLaunch feels it is urgent to develop environmentally sustainable launching technology. “Because kinetically launched satellites exit the stratosphere without a rocket, SpinLaunch enables a future in which constellations of satellites and space payloads can be launched with zero emissions in the most critical layers of the atmosphere,” the company said.

SpinLaunch was founded by Jonathan Yaney in 2014, to enable the rapid and cost-effective deployment of small LEO satellite constellations. The company is backed by partners including Airbus Ventures, Google Ventures, McKinley Capital Management, Lauder Partners, Kleiner Perkins, and interestingly enough, an IoT investment firm called Catapult. The company has said it is on schedule to place satellites in orbit and deliver payloads by 2025.

To see a video of the SpinLaunch concept, click here

By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor

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