Since the first successful satellite launch in 1957, rockets have been the most conventional way of putting things in orbit, but almost every rocket has a giant first stage booster (sometimes side-boosters too) which takes the upper stages to high altitudes, from where it separates and the upper stages continue the journey to take the payload to orbit. The fuel of the first stage core booster, as well as SRBs normally cost a lot, and they also take up most of the weight of a rocket. Moreover SRBs also pollute the air at the same time.
However, a space startup seems to come up with a out of the box solution. A Space company called “SpinLaunch” is working on a seemingly revolutionary system that uses a giant catapult to shoot a projectile into high altitudes, from where it can use a small upper stage to accelerate itself a bit more to get the payload to orbit. In other words, they will skip the first stage and instead catapult the rocket into space. After catapulting, the projectile should reach speeds similar to that of a falcon 9 second stage after booster separation. The rocket would consist of an aeroshell protecting the upper stages and the payload in order to pass through the atmosphere with least aerodynamic stress acting on the system.
The catapult system is a unique instrument which is known as Orbital Accelerator, which is basically a huge vacuum pumped centrifuge with a rotating hypersonic tether. The projectile is rotated at incredibly high speeds inside the centrifuge before it is released through a chimney like tube. However, this will be a very critical maneuver as the centrifuge will be moving at very high speeds in that time, and the accuracy of deployment will depend on a margin of milliseconds! Even small mistakes at launch speeds can end up leading to a catastrophic accident, destroying the gigantic Orbital Accelerator! Therefore, there’s a limited room for error, but if SpinLaunch can nail the process, it might end up disrupting the space industry(and even toppling SpaceX).
Once released from the tether, the projectile will shoot out of the accelerator at speeds close to Mach 5.8(2 km/s)! While moving through the atmosphere at such high speeds, it would get really hot! Moreover, the atmosphere would also slow down the projectile a bit, but it won’t take much time for it to reach higher altitudes, where the atmospheric density would be low, decreasing the friction experienced by the projectile. That’s when the aeroshell will get jettisoned and the upper stage with ignite, providing the final push to achieve orbit. Sounds Incredible! Doesn’t it?
Except for cutting off booster costs, the Spinlaunch system has more advantages to offer! The Orbiter Accelerator runs on electricity, so it’s ecofriendly as well. This technology would be of even more use in Moon and Mars, where fuel and natural resources are limited. Moreover, Moon has no atmosphere, while Mars has one that is 1/100th to that of earth in volume. The centrifuge launch system would work even more efficiently in such situations.
Earlier this month, SpinLaunch tested a smaller prototype version of the Orbiter Accelerator at Spaceport America in New Mexico, and the prototype is still pretty big enough! They call it the Suborbital Accelerator. Standing 165 ft (50 m) tall and 108 ft (33m) in diameter, it succeeded into flinging a test vehicle up and out of the vacuum chamber and tens of thousands of feet into the air. The first launch consumed 20% of the power and was about 1/3rd in size, when compared ato the orbital accelerator, which is currently in development phase. The flight was completely successful!
As it seems now, the spinlaunch system is a revolutionary concept and probably has a bright future ahead in the world of aerospace engineering.
References
- Scott Manley – Can SpinLaunch Throw Rockets in Space?
- Extreme Tech – This Startup Wants to Throw Satellites into Orbit With a Giant Centrifuge
- SpinLaunch – Website
- SpinLaunch – Wikipedia
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