Originally published at: Startup wants to launch satellites with slingshots instead of rockets | Boing Boing
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I have a plan to launch satellites into orbit using a large cylindrical thing placed on the edge of a huge cliff and then a giant hand comes down like a karate chop just getting the end that is hanging off the cliff. The upward motion of the rocket can easily hit the ceiling or whatever orbit stuff if you are good at it. The spinney thing launcher is just a ripoff of the old hot wheels booster pointed at the ceiling. I mean what is this 3rd grade all over again?
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Are they planning to launch any of those Newish Space Lasers I keep hearing about?
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That is not a slingshot.
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Though the company launched in 2015, they just completed their first successful test launch on October 22, 20221 from its Spaceport America base in New Mexico.
Not exactly heavy on information (did the launch make it to orbit?), but as a proof of concept it’s pretty good.
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is this on the dune timeline? 
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It takes longer when you’re not using the thinking machines and have to rely on Mentats.
Really, though, what a nifty idea. I’m sure there are many obstacles to making it operational but the concept is compelling.
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The astronauts reported feeling a bit dizzy, and two dimensional.
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The failure mode of this thing – when the payload comes off the arm and travels sideways – sounds a lot more exciting than having a rocket explode on the launchpad. I guess you could dig a big pit for the launcher, though they didn’t do that in the test video above.
(In the group photo at 1:10, are there any women in this company?)
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When can we launch people this way? /s
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It shoots things using the same principle as a sling, so whatever.
My question is “how does the counterbalance system work?” Doesn’t releasing a 400+ pound payload from a giant centrifuge accelerated to a tremendous velocity mean that they’d have an equal amount of kinetic energy pushing in the opposite direction?
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Sling, yes. Slingshot, no.
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since the video title says “Suborbital Test”, No.
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It takes the same amount of energy for an equal amount of mass to escape earth’s gravity well no matter what launch technology you use, therefore the amount of energy available for a catastrophic failure will also be equally available. Doesn’t matter if it’s Jet-A and LOX, a centrifuge, gunpowder in a paper tube, or a roller-skating coyote in a rubber band holding a rock.
I think if all that energy was released from a centrifuge, the failure would be so fast that a high speed camera would be needed to see the “excitement”. There might be a vapor trail and sonic boom, but you wouldn’t see anything with your eyes.
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Yes of course, but in an explosion that energy is distributed in a largely spherically symmetric way, whereas if they throw this thing horizontally instead of upwards I don’t want to be in its rather long path.
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No, it didn’t reach orbit and wasn’t meant to. They said it reached “tens of thousands of feet” but this was just their first shot with the system, not at full speed.
Right now they’re just test-flinging a rocket-shaped mass (not an actual rocket) on a prototype system that’s 1/3 the size of their eventual planned launch system. Baby steps.
The most surprising thing I’ve seen about this system is that the company claims there’s not much of a mass penalty for ruggedizing rocket and satellite components to withstand the 10,000 lateral g’s experienced during this launch technique. They say that they’ve already successfully subjected components like reaction wheels, cameras and electronics to the g-loads in their prototype accelerators and came up with designs that survive that only being about 10% heavier than conventional components. They even say that “unmodified smartphones” have survived without damage. Pretty impressive if true.
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Need more details. But it would be pretty cool if we could reach orbit without the use of brute force.
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There’s still a lot of force involved with this thing, just not quite as much rocket fuel. This system is only intended to replace the first stage of a rocket for a satellite launch but still requires a rocket engine to achieve orbit.
If you want to reach orbit without a large amount of kinetic energy added in a short period of time you’ll need a space elevator. We may get one someday but they’re still a ways off.
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Why is this the first time I’m hearing of this device?
I’m still thinking I might have seen the trailer for some near-future Netflix film.
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