Dreams of asteroid mining, orbital manufacturing and much more
Ideas for making money in orbit that seemed mad in the 1960s now look sane
Calling A firm SpinLaunch in an industry where the first part of that name is a way of life might seem a hostage to fortune. But, though the company is no slouch at PR, “spin” here refers to how its cargoes will be dispatched from Earth’s surface—by an armature rotating inside a vacuum chamber (pictured above) rather than on a rocket. After an hour’s steady acceleration, the projectile will be fired out of the chamber at 2.2km a second. Only when it is around 62km up will a small motor ignite to carry it the rest of the way into orbit.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “A field of dreams”
From the December 7th 2024 edition
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