California space-tech company SpinLaunch is testing a massive spinning cannon for its latest project. It’s planning to launch hundreds of pancake-shaped mini-satellites into space. The first orbital demo is set for next year.
What did the startup founders say?
The company plans to simultaneously launch hundreds of flattened mini-satellites into low Earth orbit by firing them out of a giant centrifugal cannon. The first batch of these space “pancakes” should reach orbit by 2026.
SpinLaunch is a private company that is trying to launch payloads into space using giant cannon-like machines. It spins up spacecraft on rotating arms inside a vacuum-sealed chamber before firing them upward through a barrel. The company plans to build its own satellite constellation called Meridian Space, which could offer cheaper competition to networks like SpaceX’s Starlink.
SpinLaunch recently announced that it received $12 million in funding from Norwegian aerospace company Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace (KDA) for this project. (The total project budget is now $150 million.) The startup chose NanoAvionics, part of KDA, to manufacture the first batch of mini-satellites.
Each satellite will be a flat disc stacked on top of the others inside the launch platform, like a giant stack of pancakes. The mini-satellites are 2.2 meters wide and weigh about 70 kilograms, which makes them far lighter than most communication satellites. For comparison, 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 world record for the number of spacecraft launched at once. The current record is SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission, which launched 143 satellites in 2021, according to Live Science.
Key advantages of the project
The main advantage of this launch system is cost: it’s far cheaper than using chemical rockets. SpinLaunch predicts that a future commercial launch will cost between $1,250 and $2,500 per kilogram of payload. By comparison, launching one kilogram on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 costs about $6,000.
Because the system doesn’t rely on chemical rockets during the launch, it doesn’t emit greenhouse gases at liftoff, making it more environmentally friendly. The system also doesn’t require expendable rocket stages, so it won’t add booster debris to low Earth orbit.
