from Hacker News

Spinlaunch completes suborbital launch without engine

by danielandrews43 on 11/10/21, 3:45 PM with 6 comments

  • by tromp on 11/10/21, 4:37 PM

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10186369/The... has some more info:

    "A 10ft-long projectile was rapidly accelerated to thousands of miles an hour in a rotating arm before being released for launch 'in less than a millisecond'.

    The first suborbital flight used about 20 per cent of the accelerator's full power capacity and reached a test altitude 'in the tens of thousands of feet,' Yaney said.

    The vehicle used did not have a rocket engine onboard but SpinLaunch does plan to add one, as well as other internal systems, in future test flights. "

  • by gvb on 11/10/21, 4:07 PM

    Questions:

    1. How high did it go?

    2. How fast was it going when it exited the launcher?

    3. How much did the launched object ("lawn dart") weigh?

    Q1 is most interesting. Q2 is right behind Q1.

  • by RattleyCooper on 11/10/21, 5:14 PM

    Sweet idea but that blinding pure white control room is a bit much.