{"id":18471,"date":"2018-06-14T23:14:58","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T15:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spinlaunch-raises-40m-from-airbus-google-and-others-for-space-catapult\/"},"modified":"2018-06-14T23:14:58","modified_gmt":"2018-06-14T15:14:58","slug":"spinlaunch-raises-40m-from-airbus-google-and-others-for-space-catapult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spinlaunch-raises-40m-from-airbus-google-and-others-for-space-catapult\/","title":{"rendered":"SpinLaunch raises $40M from Airbus, Google and others for space catapult"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_427406\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-427406\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-427406\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180614-spinlaunch2-630x473.jpg\" alt=\"SpinLaunch hangar\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180614-spinlaunch2-630x473.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180614-spinlaunch2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/180614-spinlaunch2-1260x945.jpg 1260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-427406\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpinLaunch\u2019s hangar is home to a vehicle that\u2019s designed to be launched from a catapult. (SpinLaunch Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A stealthy Silicon Valley startup called SpinLaunch says it\u2019s raised a total of $40 million from a high-profile array of investors to get a space catapult system ready for launch by 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The company, founded in 2015 by CEO Jonathan Yaney, has been working on an electric-powered kinetic energy launch system that starts by whipping the vehicle around on a centrifuge, then catapults it spaceward at hypersonic speeds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApplying the initial performance boost from a terrestrial-based launch platform enables us to lower the cost by orders of magnitude and launch many times per day,\u201d Yaney said today in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>SpinLaunch\u2019s funding includes a newly closed $35 million Series A funding round by an investment syndicate including Airbus Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Kleiner Perkins.<\/p>\n<p>The syndicate joins institutional investors including Lauder Partners, ATW Partners, Bolt and Starlight Ventures to bring total funding to $40 million. The funds will be used to scale up the team and technology, SpinLaunch said.<\/p>\n<p>The company said it was considering four states in the U.S. for launch sites. Although SpinLaunch didn\u2019t name the states, past reports suggest that the list includes&nbsp;Hawaii, where there\u2019s already been some&nbsp;resistance to the idea. Alaska, Florida and California have been mentioned as well.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Residents Lash Out At SpinLaunch (Apr. 14, 2018)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VSSBARd5HhE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Wen Hsieh, general partner at Kleiner Perkins, said he and fellow investors were \u201cvery intrigued\u201d by the fact that SpinLaunch\u2019s system doesn\u2019t plan to rely on traditional chemical rocket propulsion to get its vehicles off the ground.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cSpinLaunch can be powered by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, thereby eliminating the use of toxic and dangerous rocket fuels,\u201d Hsieh said. \u201cSpinLaunch\u2019s unique and proprietary approach to place satellites into low Earth orbit is not only highly cost-efficient, but also safe and green.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mass drivers, catapults and space guns have been the stuff of science fiction since the days of Jules Verne\u2019s \u201cFrom the Earth to the Moon.\u201d In real life, NASA studied the use of linear rail launchers to give scramjet-equipped aircraft an initial boost.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The technology faces steep challenges, however: A catapult would have to produce tremendous force to execute an orbital launch, and the aerodynamics for slinging a vehicle through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds could get dicey.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Update for 3:40 p.m. PT Jan. 14, 2019:<\/strong> Spaceport America in New Mexico says it will host SpinLaunch: Here\u2019s how Spaceport America described the deal in a tweet:<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1084900275163287552&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fspinlaunch-raises-40m-airbus-google-others-space-catapult%2F&amp;sessionId=383a0392d0836963936fad08e7c48e2a87ba1f39&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1084900275163287552\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782802941226396777=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">@Spaceport_NM is pleased to announce a new space company coming to New  Mexico\u2013  SpinLaunch. An addition of 20 new jobs will be added locally, as well as investment by SpinLaunch of $7M in construction capital and $1M in local infrastructure development for the company. pic.twitter.com\/ZoZSUgSK5S<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Spaceport America (@Spaceport_NM) January 14, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpinLaunch\u2019s hangar is home to a vehicle that\u2019s designed to be launched from a catapult. (SpinLaunch Photo) A stealthy Silicon Valley startup called SpinLaunch says it\u2019s raised a total of $40 million from a high-profile array of investors to get a space catapult system ready for launch by 2022. The company, founded in 2015 by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,1775,25,4405,20,379],"class_list":["post-18471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-electric-propulsion","tag-launch","tag-propulsion","tag-satellite","tag-spinlaunch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}