SpinLaunch

SpinLaunch is a Long Beach, California company developing a kinetic energy launch system that uses a ground-based centrifuge to spin-accelerate small payloads to hypersonic speeds before releasing them vertically, reducing the fraction of propellant required for a launch vehicle. Founded in 2014 by Jonathan Yaney, the company raised over $150M from investors including Airbus Ventures, Google Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins. SpinLaunch completed construction of a 33-meter suborbital accelerator at Spaceport America in New Mexico and conducted 10 successful test launches between October 2021 and September 2022, demonstrating the core kinetic launch concept. The company plans a full-scale orbital system capable of delivering 200 kg payloads per day. Critics note that rapid-rotating electronics must survive ~10,000g acceleration, limiting payload options primarily to rugged government and mass-production commercial satellites.