Humans have launched things like this as well. Orbital Sciences does it with their Pegasus rockets which are launched from high-flying airplanes. They are sti

Humans have launched things like this as well. Orbital Sciences does it with their Pegasus rockets which are launched from high-flying airplanes. They are still chemical rockets though. A key part of getting to space and staying there is going fast. Getting yourself above most of the atmosphere makes it easier to go fast, but you still need to get up to the same speed. Realistically that takes chemical rockets. We know of other options, as mentioned, but they have problems, as mentioned.