SpinLaunch
| SpinLaunch | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Incorporated |
| founding | 2014 |
| Seat | Long Beach , California , USA |
| management | Jonathan Yaney |
| Branch | Space travel |
| Website | www.spinlaunch.com |
SpinLaunch is a US aerospace company developing a novel system for launching satellites . With a rotating mass drivers spin Launch want bullet-shaped launchers catapulted to great heights. There the rockets are supposed to ignite their engines and bring the payload into orbit . This system is said to work far more cost-effectively than conventional stage rockets that launch from the ground.
history
SpinLaunch was founded in 2014 by serial entrepreneur Jonathan Yaney. The company was able to raise four million US dollars in seed capital at short notice . A sparsely furnished former microprocessor factory near the Google company headquarters in California served as the first company headquarters . Yaney says he was inspired by the High Altitude Research Project - an American military project that used a cannon to fire projectiles into space on suborbital orbits in the 1960s .
In 2016 a first test centrifuge with a diameter of 12 meters was completed. The device is said to have exposed various components, such as those used in satellites, to accelerations of around 10,000 g . In addition, objects were shot against a metal wall at around 6500 km / h.
In 2018, SpinLaunch was able to convince well-known investors such as Airbus Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures ) of its concept and received a further 40 million dollars. With this money, the company financed the move to a larger company building in Long Beach ; In addition, the construction of a centrifuge catapult with a diameter of around 35 meters began at Spaceport America in New Mexico . It should enable suborbital launches of 50 kg payloads.
In June 2019 SpinLaunch announced the conclusion of a launch prototype contract with the US military. At the beginning of 2020, another $ 35 million in investor money was raised.
technology
The planned orbital launch system should have a diameter of 100 meters and be able to carry around 100 kg payloads into space . The entire device should be inclined by 35 degrees with respect to the earth's surface, so that a corresponding elevation angle is reached when starting .
Inside the centrifuge, the rocket projectile, which weighs tons, and a counterweight are attached to opposite cantilever arms. The interior of the system is then evacuated , which should take an hour. This prevents the rocket from being destroyed by friction in the ambient air during the following one and a half hour acceleration process. When a speed of 8000 km / h is reached, the two accelerated objects should be released at the same time. The “bullet” then leaves the centrifuge through a briefly opened outlet channel. After a one-minute ballistic flight, the rocket engine should ignite at an altitude of about 60 km and accelerate the payload to orbital speed within a further minute .
In this system, the launcher replaces the booster (the first stage) of a conventional rocket. The remaining rocket projectile should be relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
criticism
Various experts questioned that such a system could work. One of the main points of criticism was that a rocket, like satellites, cannot withstand such enormous accelerations as those that occur in the centrifuge.
Jonathan Yaney neither wanted to demonstrate the function of the 12-meter centrifuge to a journalist from Wired magazine , nor did he want to show videos of test runs.
Web links
- SpinLaunch website
- Jonathan Yaney: Circular mass accelerator . U.S. patent application filed April 19, 2016.
- Jonathan Yaney: Circular mass accelerator . U.S. patent application filed February 20, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Daniel Oberhaus: Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry's Best Kept Secret . In: Wired , January 29, 2020.
- ↑ a b Tariq Malik: Secretive Startup SpinLaunch Gets 1st Launch Contract for US Military . Space.com, June 19, 2019
- ↑ SpinLaunch receives additional investment of $ 35 million, bringing total to $ 80 million . SpinLaunch press release on SpaceRef, January 16, 2020.
- ↑ Mike Wall: Stealth space startup SpinLaunch snares another $ 35 million from investors . Space.com, January 2020.