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But is it really a catapult?
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this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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Ignoring air resistance (which you really shouldn't, especially not when you're talking in the thousands of meters per second), you need to launch something at around 1400m/s get it to 100km high "suborbital". You need to launch it over 8000m/s to get it into orbit. In 2022, Spinlaunch were getting to ~450m/s, but that was two years ago and maybe they've improved.
Now, 1400m/s is in the neighborhood of a tank cannon, which is doable. But 8000m/s on the surface, or about 29.000 kph, is about mach 23. That's like running smack into a brick wall of air, every millisecond. And in reality, you need MUCH more speed, because you're shooting at a much shallower angle, so there's a lot more air to get through.
I think they're too early. Kinetic launchers will be great for yeeting raw materials from moons and asteroids, but launching delicate satellites through Earth's thick atmosphere seems fraught with challenges.
Yeah, it would work great on the moon. Not so much down here.
The animation shows they use a normal(?) engine once the rocket is launched. Looks like this can always work, it is like throwing a rocket into the air and then starting the engine. I wonder if that is any better than normal launch or from underneath an airplane.