Besides offering an incredibly cool way to get stuff into space, SpinLaunch promises to reduce the cost of a launch by 20-fold.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Rockets are so big because they require enormous amounts of fuel.
- SpinLaunch’s method does away with much of that fuel by hurling payloads into space using a giant centrifuge.
- The machine generates wicked g-forces: around 10,000 times the force of gravity, enough to tear the skin and muscle off a human being.
For the last 70 years, we have been punching our way into space. Using massive rockets the size of skyscrapers, we have relied on high explosives to blast our way out of Earth’s gravity well. While riding into space on a pillar of flame is certainly an impressive way to reach orbit, it is incredibly expensive, which limits our access to the potential of the high frontier. But what if there was a better, cheaper way to get payloads into orbit? What if, rather than blasting our way into space, we simply hurled them up there like a stone from a catapult? If that sounds like an insane idea, then it is time that you were introduced to SpinLaunch, a company that has already taken its first steps in turning that crazy idea into a reality.
The problem with rockets is summed up in what is called the rocket equation. This neat little piece of physics says that, since the chemical energy locked in fuel is what is needed to get a payload into space, you need to haul all that fuel along for the ride and burn it up as you climb skyward. That is why rockets are so big. They must carry fuel to launch the rest of the fuel. SpinLaunch’s method is to do away with the need for most of that fuel.
Continue reading… “Not rocket science: SpinLaunch hurls payloads into orbit”
