Sickening video shows what it’s like to be shot out of a centrifuge
And that at 1,600 kilometers per hour. This can be seen in a movie how a kind of centrifuge achieves this.
The space industry has been looking for alternatives to get satellites into space for some time now. California startup SpinLaunch recently conducted the eighth demonstration of its suborbital mass accelerator. But unlike previous tests, this flight vehicle was equipped with an on-board camera, which provided an unprecedented view of the high-altitude launch.
Video launch from centrifuge
The projectile spins enormously, almost sickening to watch. This latest test took place on Friday, April 22 at the company’s 33-meter suborbital mass accelerator in the New Mexico desert. Such tests are becoming routine for SpinLaunch, with the first demonstration of the kinetic launch system last October. This time, however, the company did something new by attaching a camera or “optical charge” to the 10-foot-long (3 meters) projectile.
Footage from the onboard camera shows the projectile hurtling upwards from the kinetic launch system at speeds of more than 1,600 kilometers per hour. The flight lasted 82 seconds, during which time the test vehicle reached an altitude of more than 25,000 feet (7,620 meters), according to David Wrenn, vice president of technology at SpinLaunch.
To turn
If you watch the video, you can see that the launch facility quickly disappears from view as the projectile takes off quickly. The twisting — enough to make you nauseous — is part of the design. The fins of the test vehicle “are tilted slightly to induce spin and provide extra stability in flight,” explains Wrenn, who says it’s just like a bullet when fired from a rifle.
