NASA Tests System to Fling Satellites Into Sky Using Huge Centrifuge

Thanks to a partnership with a startup, NASA may soon be able to slingshot its satellites into low- Earth orbit.

SpinLaunch trumpeted its tenth successful flight test in a press release. In April, it signed a deal with NASA, as well as other universities and companies.

During the late September test out of the Spaceport America base located in New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto desert, the startup's mega-slingshot launched a capsule containing five payloads.

He's Not Heavy

SpinLaunch's customers can survive the massive G-forces generated by the rapidly-rotating arm hidden within the large contraption, which can be up to 10,000 times the force of Earth's gravity.

The customer payloads survived both pre-flight tests and the demonstration's aftermath.

Though the company's technology is not ready to launch larger payloads or send smaller satellites further out than the 25,000 feet it has achieved so far, SpinLaunch has still done a lot.

While SpinLaunch has ruled out any would-be fatal crewed launches, these tests are still an incredible advent demonstrating that small payloads can survive such intense G-forces.

There are more NASA partnership news, like the launch of a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station.