Longshot aims to launch space cargo with a giant gun

Longshot Space Technology, an Alameda, California startup, is developing a ground-based gun to launch cargo toward space. The company’s longer-term goal is to send large payloads into orbit, though that would require the payload to have its own propulsion system.

The company is testing a 70-foot gun with a 6-inch diameter near Barstow, California. It says the system can accelerate projectiles to near-hypersonic speeds. Longshot expects to begin firing a 140-foot gun with a 30-inch diameter at its Alameda test site soon. It is also preparing a 328-foot-long, 30-inch-diameter gun, with plans to extend it to about 3,000 feet. The team says that version could launch 220-pound payloads at Mach 8.

Longshot’s guns use high-pressure gas to give a projectile successive boosts as it moves through the barrel. The company says its current systems have reached speeds as high as Mach 4. It also has contracts with the US military for hypersonic testing, which could provide revenue while it develops the launch technology.

For space launches, the company says it would need a gun 10 kilometers long and nearly 10 feet in diameter to accelerate payloads to 5 kilometers per second, or more than 11,000 mph. CEO Mike Grace estimates that, if the plan works, launches could cost $50 per kilogram. The article says orbital data centers may need launch costs around $300 per kilogram to become viable. Longshot has raised about $20 million from venture investors.