--- title: "NASA Tests System to Fling Satellites Into Sky Using Huge Centrifuge" description: "NASA may soon be slingshotting its satellites into orbit thanks to its partnership with a startup that makes gigantic slingshots for that very purpose." date: "2022-10-06" modified: "2022-10-06" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-slingshot-startup-test" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "low earth orbit" - "NASA" - "spinlaunch" - "the digest" --- # NASA Tests System to Fling Satellites Into Sky Using Huge Centrifuge ![NASA may soon be slingshotting its satellites into orbit thanks to its partnership with a startup that makes gigantic slingshots for that very purpose.]() *\Image: SpinLaunch\* ## Weeeeeee! NASA may soon be slingshotting its satellites into low-Earth orbit, thanks to its newly-tested partnership with a startup working on a giant centrifuge for that very purpose. In a [press release](), the SpinLaunch company trumpeted its recently completed tenth successful flight test of its Suborbital Accelerator. During this demonstration, it carried payloads for NASA (with which it [inked a deal in April]()), Airbus, Cornell University, and others. During the late September test out of the Spaceport America base located in New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto desert, the startup's [11-month-old mega-slingshot]() launched a capsule containing five payloads, including a camera, tens of thousands of feet into the sky — a demonstration that helps illustrate the ways "alternative" launch technology, such as the mass accelerator's rapidly-rotating arm, may be able to hurl satellites and other objects into low earth orbit or beyond. ## He's Not Heavy Along with this tenth successful demo showcasing the capabilities of the mass accelerator, this test also indicates that SpinLaunch customers' payloads can survive the massive G-forces — up to 10,000 times the force of Earth's gravity — generated by the rapidly-rotating arm hidden within the large contraption, which flung them out faster than the speed of sound. Indeed, during both pre-flight tests and in the demonstration's aftermath, the customer payloads survived intact, SpinLaunch's press release notes. Though the company's technology is obviously not ready to launch larger payloads or send smaller satellites further out than the 25,000 feet it's achieved so far, SpinLaunch has still [done a ton]() since its founding in 2014, and especially in the year since the mass accelerator has been online. While SpinLaunch has ruled out any [would-be fatal crewed launches](), these tests are nonetheless an incredible advent demonstrating that small payloads can survive such intense G-forces — and the [possibilities for where it could go next]() are super fun to consider, too. **More NASA partnership news:** [*SpaceX Launches Russian Cosmonaut to ISS Despite Nuclear War Threats*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()