"SpinLaunch is offering a unique suborbital flight and high-speed testing service, and the recent launch agreement with NASA marks a key inflection point as SpinLaunch shifts focus from technology development to commercial offerings," said Jonathan Yaney, Founder, and CEO of SpinLaunch. NASA's Space Act Agreement is part of its ongoing initiative to help the private sector build new space innovations that the agency could use in its pursuit of furthering science, exploring the cosmos, and establishing a network of future space colonies. SpinLaunch's catapult-like system is definitely one of the more unusual and potentially disruptive ideas we've seen obtain a Space Act contract. Another high-profile Space Act Agreement contract recipient is Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which recently reached an agreement with NASA to build a commercial space station - or "space business park" - called Orbital Reef.
Once SpinLaunch's launch vehicle reaches orbit, a very small amount of propellant is used to reach the required velocity and position for payload deployment - an almost negligible amount compared to the amount typically required for liftoff. NASA, for example, typically uses half a million gallons of water per launch - and that's before taking into account the vast amounts of propellant required to send its rockets into orbit. The company claims its system eliminates more than 70 percent of the fuel and structure requirements of typical rocket launches. The arm lets go of the rocket at just the right moment, launching it out of the chamber and up towards orbit. SpinLaunch's Orbital Accelerator system features a rotating carbon fiber arm inside a 300-ft diameter steel vacuum chamber that is used to accelerate a payload-carrying launch vehicle to speeds of up to 5,000 mph. Both NASA and SpinLaunch will analyze the data collected after launch in order to assess the viability of the system for future missions. SpinLaunch will fly NASA's payload as part of a developmental flight test later this year, after which it will recover the payload for analysis, the company explains in its statement.
Eliminating more than 70% of fuel and structure requirements
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