Take, for example: an enormous vacuum chamber containing a rapidly rotating arm. And lo and behold: an innovative, cheap way to put satellites into orbit has – in theory – been born.

Numerous space missions have been undertaken in recent decades; we’ve placed satellites in orbit, sent probes to distant planets, launched space telescopes, and sent astronauts to the ISS and even the moon. And all these different missions have one goal in common: they started on a launcher. But this commonly used launch method has a major drawback: it requires huge amounts of fuel. And to carry that fuel, large launch systems are needed. And that drives up the price of the launch and therefore also of the space missions as a whole. No wonder some wonder whether it is not possible to launch space probes in a completely different way. “It’s essential to find another way to get into space,” says Peter Worden, former director of the NASA Ames Research Center†

SpiderLaunch

And some see it as their mission to discover that ‘different way’. Jonathan Yaney is one of them. And he thinks he has found an innovative way. Satellites would be brought to a high speed in a vacuum chamber and then flung into space. It’s not just a wild idea; his company – called SpinLaunch – has already completed a number of test flights – in which various loads are flung out of the vacuum chamber at high speed.

NASA

And now SpinLaunch has captured the attention of NASA as well. In fact, NASA has ordered the company to “sling away” a payload supplied by NASA before the end of this year. NASA enters into this partnership within the Flight Opportunities Program: a research program in which promising space technologies developed by commercial parties are further explored.

But how does it work now?

During the test flight purchased by NASA, the Suborbital Mass Accelerator† It consists of a huge, circular vacuum chamber containing a super-strong carbon fiber arm that can rotate – like the hands of a clock – in that vacuum chamber. The object that has to be thrown at high speed is placed on the end of that arm. And then that arm is turned around at lightning speed. Because it moves in a vacuum – and therefore experiences no air resistance – enormous speeds can be reached. As soon as the desired speed has been reached, the load on the end of the arm is released, after which it is ejected from the vacuum chamber via a special exit (see also the video below).

As the name suggests, the Suborbital Mass Accelerator eventually be used for suborbital flights. This means that objects are launched into space, but before they can complete a full orbit around the Earth, they also fall back to Earth. It is of course the prelude to more: orbital flights. In other words: flights in which an object is actually placed in orbit around the earth. Work is in progress: the first test flights with the Orbital Accelerator should take place in 2025. In this case, too, the satellites in a vacuum chamber are brought up to speed while rotating, before being ejected from the vacuum chamber. Once the satellites are out of the stratosphere — the top layer of our atmosphere — a small and inexpensive propulsion system can be used to give them the final push needed to get into stable orbit around Earth.

Advantages

It is not surprising that NASA is interested in this way of launching. Compared to a conventional launch, SpinLaunch’s approach is a lot cheaper. Of course, this has to do with the fact that orbital flights require at least 70 percent less fuel. In addition, the fact that the Orbital Accelerator a large part of the (expensive) materials needed to build a launcher – which is soon doomed to become super large due to the storage of all that fuel – a role. “Now it costs about $7 million to put a small satellite into orbit,” Yaney said. “With SpinLaunch, we are reducing those costs to under half a million dollars.” Another interesting advantage is that with the Orbital Accelerator can be launched effortlessly several times a day.

It sounds promising and NASA clearly sees potential in it; so much so that it wants to take a test flight with the predecessor of that Orbital Accelerator: the Suborbital Mass Accelerator† Much to Yaney’s delight, “The agreement with NASA marks an important moment as SpinLaunch shifts its focus from technology development to commercial offerings.” The future will tell whether it will be a defining moment in the history of space travel.