![]() ![]() When it comes to aerospace engineering, he is self-taught, having pored over textbooks in the years leading up to the founding of SpinLaunch in 2014. Yaney grew up in California and has run a variety of businesses, from software makers to construction companies. “We are evaluating five potential launch sites within the United States,” Yaney said. The company would, of course, need to build its own launch facility and then prove this technology actually works - no small feat. If the start-up were able to reach its goals, it would easily be the cheapest and most prolific small launcher on the market. The world’s top rocket companies usually launch about once a month, and most of SpinLaunch’s rivals have been aiming for US$2 million to US$10 million per launch for small rockets. It is to charge less than US$500,000 per launch and be able to send up multiple rockets per day. The start-up plans to begin launching by 2022. SpinLaunch has a working prototype of its launcher, although the company has declined to provide details on exactly how the machine operates or will compare to its final system. “SpinLaunch can be powered by renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, thereby eliminating the use of toxic and dangerous rocket fuels.” “We are very intrigued by SpinLaunch’s innovative use of rotational kinetic energy to revolutionize the smallsat market,” Kleiner Perkins general partner Wen Hsieh (謝文暄) said in an e-mailed statement. SpinLaunch is an entirely new take on the rocket launch concept itself. The small rockets, though, are really just miniaturized versions of the large, traditional rockets that have flown for decades. These smaller rockets have been built to carry a new breed of shoebox-sized satellites - dubbed smallsats - that are packed full of imaging, telecommunications and scientific equipment. Following in the footsteps of Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp, dozens of companies have appeared, trying to make small, cheap rockets that can be launched every week or perhaps even every day. Over the past few years, the rocket industry has become quite crowded. The bulk of the US$40 million came from Alphabet Inc’s GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Airbus Ventures. But we are actually using relatively low-tech industrial components to break this problem into manageable chunks.”Īn impressive group of investors have signed on to support Yaney’s vision. “Some people call it a non-rocket launch,” Yaney said. In theory, this means the company could build a simpler, less expensive rocket that is more efficient at ferrying satellites. SpinLaunch’s so-called kinetic energy launch system would use electricity to accelerate a projectile, and help do much of the dirty work fighting through gravity and the atmosphere. ![]() The items carried on a typical rocket, for example, make up less than 5 percent of the rocket’s mass, with the rest going toward fuel and the rocket’s body. ![]()
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