Jonathan Yaney, founder and CEO of SpinLaunch, has announced that
the company has been awarded a responsive launch prototype contract from
the Department of Defense (DOD), facilitated by the Defense Innovation
Unit (DIU).
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Illustration depicting SpinLaunch orbital vehicle inside the electric kinetic launcher (Photo: Business Wire)
SpinLaunch is developing a kinetic energy-based launch system that will
provide the world’s lowest-cost orbital launch services for the rapidly
growing small satellite industry. In 2018, the company received $40
million in a Series A financing round from Airbus Ventures, Google
Ventures and Kleiner Perkins.
The recently published State
of the Space Industrial Base states that the future and growth
of the U.S. space economy is “critically dependent on continuing
reductions in the costs and risks associated with launch. There is a
bifurcation of launch providers between lower-cost, ‘bulk’
carriers…and higher-cost, ‘niche’ providers offering lower lift-mass,
but launch to a specific orbit.”
“SpinLaunch fills this gap by providing dedicated orbital launch with
high frequency at a magnitude lower cost than any current ‘niche’ launch
system,” stated Yaney. “This will truly be a disruptive enabler for the
emerging commercial space industry. There is a promising market surge in
the demand for LEO constellations of inexpensive small satellites for
disaster monitoring, weather, reconnaissance, communications and other
services.”
In January 2019, SpinLaunch moved from Silicon Valley to its new 140,000
square foot headquarters in Long Beach, California and last month broke
ground on a new $7 million test facility on 10 acres at New Mexico’s
Spaceport America. First kinetic energy flight tests are expected to
occur early 2020 and the company has announced its plans for first
launch by 2022.
About DIU
The
Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) was established in 2015 to
reinvigorate and lead DoD outreach to commercial innovation hubs across
the United States, beginning with Silicon Valley to Washington, DC,
Boston and Austin. Its mission is to execute transformative projects
with scalable impact across the joint force; accelerate the adoption of
commercial technology, from AI, autonomy, cyber, human systems and
space, to strengthen the National Security Innovation base (NSIB).
About SpinLaunch
SpinLaunch
is reimagining space launch by revisiting fundamental physics and
leveraging proven industrial technologies to create a system that
accelerates the launch vehicle to hypersonic speeds using ground-based
energy. Applying the initial performance boost from a terrestrial-based
launch platform will enable the company to provide a substantially lower
cost launch to orbit, multiple times per day, with no negative impact on
our environment. SpinLaunch was founded in 2014, by Jonathan Yaney, a
1,000+ hour pilot and serial entrepreneur with 15 years’ experience
founding companies in aerospace, Fortune 500 consulting, IT, and
construction industries.
Photos: www.spinlaunch.com
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