NASA to test giant slingshot designed to fling satellites into orbit

NASA has teamed up with private spaceflight company SpinLaunch to trial a unique system designed to send satellites into space using a slingshot-like launcher. The system works by attaching a rocket payload onto one end of a giant spinning arm powered by electric motors, accelerating it to high speeds and then flinging it out into space.

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1 The team plans to fit the three-metre-long rockets launched by the L100 (shown here in a CGI render) with internal boosters that kick in when they reach the upper atmosphere, allowing them to be manoeuvred into the desired position.

As it is housed in a vacuum chamber with next to no air resistance, the arm can be accelerated to around 450 rotations per minute, allowing it to launch the payload through a chute mounted on the top of the system at speeds of up to 8,000km/h - enough to send it into low Earth orbit.