Science & Tech · Space · 6 hrs ago
Longshot is developing a gun to launch cargo into space
Alameda startup Longshot is developing a gun to launch cargo into space instead of relying on rockets.
Its system uses bursts of high-pressure gas to accelerate a projectile as it travels through a long barrel.
Longshot is testing a 70-foot gun near Barstow, California, and expects to begin firing a larger, 140-foot gun in Alameda.
The company plans to build a 328-foot gun and extend it to about 3,000 feet, with a target of sending 220-pound payloads at up to Mach 8.
Longshot has raised about $20 million from venture investors and has also won U.S. military contracts for hypersonic testing.
The company aims to use its guns for that testing while developing its space-launch technology.
Its approach could offer a different way to launch cargo, but the source does not say when it might carry a payload into space.
Longshot Space Technology is developing a ground-based gun to launch cargo toward space.
The Alameda, California, startup is testing a 70-foot gun near Barstow and says it can accelerate projectiles to near-hypersonic speeds.
Its planned larger gun is designed to launch payloads weighing 220 pounds at up to Mach 8.
The company has raised about $20 million from venture investors and has received several U.S. military contracts for hypersonic testing.
Longshot says the technology could replace some of the work done by the first stage of a launch vehicle.
- Who
- Longshot Space Technology, a startup co-founded by CEO Mike Grace and CTO Nato Saichek.
- What
- It is developing multi-injection guns to launch cargo toward space and conduct hypersonic testing.
- When
- The company is currently testing a 70-foot gun; it expects to begin firing a larger one soon.
- Where
- Its current test site is near Barstow, California, and it has an Alameda test site.
- Why
- The company aims to apply multi-injection gun technology to space launch and address the need for launch capacity.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Longshot is firing a 70-foot-long gun with a 6-inch diameter at its test site near Barstow, California.
The company expects to start firing a 140-foot-long gun with a 30-inch diameter at its Alameda test site.
Longshot is preparing to build a 328-foot-long gun with a 30-inch diameter.
The company plans to extend the gun to about 3,000 feet.
- Funding
- About $20 million raised from venture investors
- Current test gun
- 70 feet long, 6-inch diameter
- Current test location
- Near Barstow, California
- Planned payload
- 220 pounds
- Planned launch speed
- Up to Mach 8
What people are saying
you can build something that has a lot of novelty, or you can do something really hard. You don’t get to do both.
taken classically de-risked technology and scaled it aggressively.
If you want to practice shooting down a Chinese or Russian hypersonic missile, wouldn’t it be nice not to pay $30 million for that?
Sources
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