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Rocket company develops catapult to launch satellites into space
- jfengel 2y agoThe news here appears to be that they're actually gonna build it, and are in process. I wish them luck. I'm still skeptical. You can't use just the catapult to get to orbit. Even if you get the right speed, your orbit will pass through the launch point, i.e. the ground. You need an orbital burn. Maybe a satellite's functions can be made solid state enough to survive a launch with one of these. But I have a hard time imagining a rocket motor and fuel system that can survive 10,000 g.
- gnabgib 2y agoPreviously SpinLaunch completes first test flight with rocket-flinging launch system (2021, 251 points, 219 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29198589 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29198589 SpinLaunch just catapulted a NASA payload into the sky for the first time (2022, 35 points, 10 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33112413 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33112413