Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
I read about this the other day and thought it was interesting.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/spin...ve-rocket.html
It essentially puts a payload in an enormous vertical centrifuge, spins it to hypersonic speeds, and then throws it up into space. I'm curious how something like a satellite could hold up to those forces, and I'd think that's a hard sell. But if you want to move a bunch of steel or uranium into orbit, this seems like a good way to do it.
You really want to be sure this baby releases on the vertical part of the spin cycle, though, or you're going to rip a big swath through Albuquerque. |
Yeah, the accuracy requirements for angle of release must be insane. I pretty much dismissed this tech due to that, the satellite hardening required to survive the stresses, and the price of launch continuing to drop as SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Astra, and others push for more/cheaper launches, The idea of launching raw materials (like a chunk of steel for in-orbit manufacturing) seems like a good use case though. I'm curious to know how fast the projectile is moving as it leaves the centrifuge and if it's fast enough to have to deal with the heat from friction that things entering the atmosphere deal with.