CAN YOU THROW A SATELLITE INTO SPACE?

Meet the SpinLaunch – the extraordinary new machine designed to hurl rockets and satellites straight up into space!

By Lisa Thomas

What is the best way to launch a satellite into space? For the last 70 years, the answer has been the same: load the satellite onto a rocket and then blast the rocket up into space.

However, space rockets need to burn a lot of expensive and environmentally unfriendly fuel to generate enough power to break free from Earth’s gravity. To solve this problem, a new machine called the SpinLaunch is trying a different approach. It spins the rocket around at speeds of up to 5,000 mph, before releasing the rocket so it’s sent flying 30 miles up into the atmosphere.

A half-size version of the SpinLaunch is already being tested in New Mexico, USA. If it is successful, a full-size SpinLaunch is planning to hurl its first satellites into space in 2025. Read the panel opposite to find out how it works. Right: a test version of the SpinLaunch in New Mexico, USA.

HOW THE SPINLAUNCH WORKS…

1Loading the SpinLaunch First, the satellite that is about to be hurled into space is placed inside a rocket which is then loaded into the SpinLaunch. The rocket (pictured below) is attached to the end of a long arm inside the SpinLaunch which is designed to spin round at very high speeds.

2Spinning the rocket The long arm starts to spin the rocket round and round inside the SpinLaunch. The arm is designed to spin faster and faster until the rocket containing the satellite is travelling at a speed of 5,OOO miles per hour, which is more than five times faster than the speed of sound! The inside of the SpinLaunch is also a vacuum, which means that all the air has been taken out. The lack of air resistance enables the arm to spin even faster.

How the launchers compare in size

Test SpinLaunch London Eye

Full-size SpinLaunch

5O metres 135 metres 1OO metres

An artist’s illustration of what the full-size SpinLaunch will look like. 3 Releasing the rocket The spinning arm releases the rocket at exactly the right moment to hurl it out of the SpinLaunch and up into the sky. It will reach about 3O miles above Earth’s surface.

4Blasting into orbit Once it is high enough in the sky, the rocket splits open, releasing the satellite (pictured below). A small booster rocket on the satellite then fires to give it the final push it needs to reach its target orbit. Hurling a satellite into space using the SpinLaunch is designed to use 7O per cent less fuel than using a conventional rocket.