California space tech company SpinLaunch is using a massive spinning cannon for their latest project. They’re going to shoot tons of pancake-shaped mini-satellites into space. The first orbital demo is planned for next year.
What did the startup founders say?
The company is planning to simultaneously launch hundreds of flattened mini-satellites into low Earth orbit by shooting them out of a giant centrifugal cannon. The first batch of these space “pancakes” should reach space by 2026.
SpinLaunch is a private company that’s trying to launch payloads into space using giant cannon-like machines. They spin up spacecraft using rotating arms inside a vacuum-sealed chamber before firing them upward through a barrel. The company will create its own satellite constellation called Meridian Space, which could offer more cost-effective competition to networks like SpaceX’s Starlink.
SpinLaunch recently announced they got $12 million in funding from Norwegian aerospace company Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace (KDA) for this project. (The total project budget has now reached $150 million). The startup chose NanoAvionics from KDA as the manufacturer for creating the first batch of mini-satellites.
Each satellite will be shaped like a flat disc and will be stacked on top of each other inside the launch platform, like a giant stack of pancakes. The mini-satellites are 2.2 meters wide and weigh about 70 kilograms, which means they’re way lighter than most other communication satellites. For example, a Starlink V2 satellite weighs around 800 kg.
If all the mini-satellites are successfully deployed into low Earth orbit next year, the company will set a new world record for the number of spacecraft launched simultaneously. Currently, this record belongs to SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission, which put 143 satellites into orbit at once in 2021, according to Live Science.
Key advantages of the project
The main advantage of this type of launch system is that it’s way cheaper than launching rockets with chemical engines. SpinLaunch predicts that in the future, a commercial launch of one kilogram of payload will cost between $1,250 and $2,500. Meanwhile, launching one kilogram of payload using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket costs twice as much—about $6,000.
Since the accelerated rockets don’t emit greenhouse gases during launch, they’re more environmentally friendly. These spacecraft also don’t need boosters that have to be dropped in space, so they don’t pose a space debris threat in low Earth orbit.