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Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry’s Best Kept Secret



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 30th 20, 11:02 PM posted to sci.space.policy
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Default Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry’s Best Kept Secret

"Last summer, a secretive space company took up residence in a massive warehouse
in the sun-soaked industrial neighborhood that surrounds Long Beach Airport..
Reflections of turboprop planes flit across the building’s mirrored panes. Across
the street a retro McDonnell Douglas sign perches above the aerospace giant’s
former factory, and just around the corner Virgin Orbit is developing air-launched
rockets.

It’s a fitting headquarters for SpinLaunch, a company breathing new life into the
decades-old idea of using giant mechanical slings to hurl rockets into orbit. The
man behind this audacious plan is the serial entrepreneur Jonathan Yaney. For
years he ran SpinLaunch out of a former microprocessor plant in Silicon Valley,
down the road from Google. Now the company is ready to open a proper rocket
factory, where it will churn out launch vehicles and, if all goes well, take its
first steps into the cosmos."

See:

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-s...t-kept-secret/


How practical is this idea compared to conventional rocketry?
  #2  
Old January 31st 20, 02:30 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Alain Fournier[_3_]
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Posts: 548
Default Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry’s Best Kept Secret

On Jan/30/2020 Ã* 17:02, wrote :
"Last summer, a secretive space company took up residence in a massive warehouse
in the sun-soaked industrial neighborhood that surrounds Long Beach Airport.
Reflections of turboprop planes flit across the building’s mirrored panes. Across
the street a retro McDonnell Douglas sign perches above the aerospace giant’s
former factory, and just around the corner Virgin Orbit is developing air-launched
rockets.

It’s a fitting headquarters for SpinLaunch, a company breathing new life into the
decades-old idea of using giant mechanical slings to hurl rockets into orbit. The
man behind this audacious plan is the serial entrepreneur Jonathan Yaney. For
years he ran SpinLaunch out of a former microprocessor plant in Silicon Valley,
down the road from Google. Now the company is ready to open a proper rocket
factory, where it will churn out launch vehicles and, if all goes well, take its
first steps into the cosmos."

See:

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-s...t-kept-secret/


How practical is this idea compared to conventional rocketry?


Totally impractical. Try travelling at a speed near orbital velocity low
in the atmosphere. It is hard enough to do so at 50 km altitude, doing
it low in the atmosphere is quite unlikely. If you launch at an altitude
of 7.5 km (that would be in Asia, you can't find such a mountain outside
Asia) the atmospheric pressure would be about 150 times higher than at
50 km.

My opinion is that this is a scam.


Alain Fournier
  #3  
Old January 31st 20, 01:03 PM posted to sci.space.policy
Jeff Findley[_6_]
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Posts: 2,307
Default Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry?s Best Kept Secret

In article , says...

On Jan/30/2020 à 17:02,
wrote :
See:

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-s...t-kept-secret/

How practical is this idea compared to conventional rocketry?


Totally impractical. Try travelling at a speed near orbital velocity low
in the atmosphere. It is hard enough to do so at 50 km altitude, doing
it low in the atmosphere is quite unlikely. If you launch at an altitude
of 7.5 km (that would be in Asia, you can't find such a mountain outside
Asia) the atmospheric pressure would be about 150 times higher than at
50 km.

My opinion is that this is a scam.


I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a complete scam, but it's certainly
a niche solution looking for a problem to solve. You're only going to
be able to launch payloads which can take *a lot* of Gs (i.e. crew
launch is right out, as well as most satellite launches). And when the
vehicle (supersonic projectile really) exits the launcher, you're going
to get one hell of a sonic boom in the area surrounding the facility, so
you can't really build a spin-launcher anywhere near people or animals
(so desert or remote island launch?). So, anything you launch will have
to be transported to a remote site to begin with! Not terribly
practical compared with other launch options.

So, what's left that's remotely practical to launch with this thing?
Bulk cargo and warheads. And even with bulk cargo, you're going to
either need a tug in LEO to get the payload to somewhere useful, or this
thing is going to be resupplying a LEO fuel depot or similar.

More likely this company is hoping to do a smallish demo "launch" in
order to attract a military contract so they can go "full scale".
Because, to me anyway, it really doesn't make much sense given the
practicality of first stage reuse (i.e. Falcon 9) or even air launch
(Pegasus, Stratolaunch, or Virgin Galactic). Air launch is far more
practical, IMHO as it can be responsive and can use existing airports
for its aircraft operations. And as Virgin Galactic has shown, you can
easily convert a 747 into a carrier aircraft by simply using the spare
engine mounting point, so you don't have to go all one off aircraft like
Stratolaunch.

In summary, I'd say it's a scam in so far as they're seeking investors
by marketing this thing as a practical commercial launch vehicle which
it will never be. This would do far better as a DARPA funded project,
as that's the only practical use I see for the thing.

Jeff
--
All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone.
These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends,
employer, or any organization that I am a member of.
  #4  
Old February 1st 20, 02:16 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Alain Fournier[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 548
Default Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry?s Best Kept Secret

On Jan/31/2020 at 07:03, Jeff Findley wrote :
In article , says...

On Jan/30/2020 à 17:02,
wrote :
See:

https://www.wired.com/story/inside-s...t-kept-secret/

How practical is this idea compared to conventional rocketry?


Totally impractical. Try travelling at a speed near orbital velocity low
in the atmosphere. It is hard enough to do so at 50 km altitude, doing
it low in the atmosphere is quite unlikely. If you launch at an altitude
of 7.5 km (that would be in Asia, you can't find such a mountain outside
Asia) the atmospheric pressure would be about 150 times higher than at
50 km.

My opinion is that this is a scam.


I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a complete scam, but it's certainly
a niche solution looking for a problem to solve. You're only going to
be able to launch payloads which can take *a lot* of Gs (i.e. crew
launch is right out, as well as most satellite launches). And when the
vehicle (supersonic projectile really) exits the launcher, you're going
to get one hell of a sonic boom in the area surrounding the facility, so
you can't really build a spin-launcher anywhere near people or animals
(so desert or remote island launch?). So, anything you launch will have
to be transported to a remote site to begin with! Not terribly
practical compared with other launch options.

So, what's left that's remotely practical to launch with this thing?
Bulk cargo and warheads. And even with bulk cargo, you're going to
either need a tug in LEO to get the payload to somewhere useful, or this
thing is going to be resupplying a LEO fuel depot or similar.


I don't think it has a launch rate high enough to be interesting for
launching warheads. They advertise a possible high launch rate,
something like a few launches per day, that is high for orbital rockets
but way too low for guns.


Alain Fournier
  #7  
Old February 2nd 20, 06:44 AM posted to sci.space.policy
David Spain
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Posts: 2,901
Default Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry’s Best Kept Secret

On 2020-01-30 5:02 PM, wrote:

How practical is this idea compared to conventional rocketry?


In another forum I heard it described as "bat**** crazy".
Pretty much sums up my opinion too.

Dave

 




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