The last time SpinLaunch tested its suborbital accelerator and provided an update on it was in late 2022, nearly 3 years ago. In the time since then, we’ve heard practically nothing with the exception of issues related to finding a location to start building its larger Orbital Accelerator. That was until recently, when it was confirmed that a lease was signed for a future launch site in Alaska.
Despite changes in leadership, a lack of updates, and a shift of focus to a new satellite constellation, it seems that SpinLaunch is still working on an Orbital Accelerator. For context, this company has been aiming to build a kinetic launch system that spins payloads at thousands of miles per hour before releasing them into the atmosphere.
Adak Island, Alaska
In April of this year, comments from the company, along with local reports, confirmed that the location had been picked. Specifically, in a statement they said, “The Aleut Corporation (Aleut) has partnered with SpinLaunch, a space technology company based in California, to develop a cutting-edge satellite launch facility on Adak Island, Alaska, positioning Adak as a key location in the growing space industry while driving economic growth for the region.”
They go on to say, “In October 2024, Aleut and SpinLaunch finalized a land lease agreement, paving the way for infrastructure development and future launch operations.” In other words, the lease was actually signed quite a while ago, but only recently was it announced.
In the years prior to this lease being signed, SpinLaunch was sending representatives around the world to look at different possible locations. For example, they tried Hawaii, but were met with strong opposition from the local community. They also tried Unalaska Alaska but met a similar fate with the Ports Director commenting, “It sounds like Unalaska may provide SpinLaunch the ideal location, but SpinLaunch has little or nothing long-term to offer in return.” There were even reports of the company showing interest in possible locations in Australia.
All that being said, it seems they finally found the right spot, with agreement said to be a 100-year lease. The small island features multiple benefits that the company had been looking for. The first is its location, which provides plenty of launch trajectories over the Pacific Ocean. Also, the island, despite its small size and population of around 50, has an operational airport with scheduled passenger service and a deepwater port. Lastly, the company highlighted that infrastructure from a former Naval Air Facility on the island can be repurposed to support space operations, reducing development time and costs.
As far as physical progress on the new land, it seems like it might be a while before we see anything starting to take shape. As previously mentioned, this lease was actually signed back in October of last year, meaning the company has already had access to it for around 8 months. Even still, comments from leadership within SpinLaunch suggest the project will take at least 3 years.
The first year alone will focus on plans to establish the necessary groundwork for long-term growth and development in the area. They noted that over the past few months, “work includes site assessments to ensure responsible and sustainable development through environmental surveying, infrastructure assessments, regulatory compliance, and economic impact studies.” The CEO of SpinLaunch was quoted saying, “In total, we’re talking about several years to bring that system online,”.
In reality, the project would be massive and require some substantial funding. The Orbital Accelerator, the company wants to build, features a steel cylinder measuring around 100 meters in diameter. This vacuum chamber is meant to allow the tether within to spin at nearly 5,000 miles per hour (8,000 kph) with minimal aerodynamic heating and drag. You then have the hypersonic tether in the very center. Made of high-strength carbon fiber, the tether is spun up to launch speeds by a central electric drive.
Once the payload has been spun up to immense speeds, an automatic sequence would release the launch vehicle through the exit tunnel with high precision. Finally, after ascending above the stratosphere, a small propulsive stage would provide the final required velocity for orbital insertion and positioning. In regard to this ambitious process, SpinLaunch is quoted saying, “By doing so, up to 70 percent of the fuel and structures that make up a typical rocket can be eliminated.”
What Is SpinLaunch’s Plan?
While a lease being signed and initial survey-related work beginning is a good step, the company has a long way to go. The one system SpinLaunch has tested is the suborbital accelerator, but those flights stopped years ago.
This suborbital variant is designed to operate from 800 to 5,000 mph and acts primarily as a test-bed for the Orbital Launch System. In other words, this system doesn’t get anything to space or actually launch payloads, but instead sends them high in the air. The first test was in October 2021. At the time, the company was testing the system frequently with the 10th flight test occurring about a year after the first in late 2022.
However, after the 10th flight test, the company basically went silent. We stopped seeing testing and heard very little in regard to their plans and the system’s future. To add to that, during that period, they also announced a change in leadership and a new CEO. At the time, in a statement released by the company, they highlighted, “SpinLaunch’s Founder & former CEO, Jonathan Yaney, has completed his transition from the company, where he recommended and endorsed Wrenn’s elevation to CEO.”
When talking about the future plan, Wrenn said, “I am energized to lead SpinLaunch into this next chapter. With the company’s experienced leadership and incredibly talented team, I am confident in our ability to execute on the company’s mission and bring our integrated tech stack of low-cost space solutions to market. I look forward to sharing more details about our near and long-term strategy in the coming months”.
Since then, it seems the company has been shifting its focus toward satellite development. Earlier this year, they unveiled what they call Meridian Space, which is a Low Earth Orbit satellite communication constellation.
Interestingly, with this announcement, the company also noted that the satellites would be launched, at least at first, on conventional rockets, and not their own Orbital Accelerator. When asked about this, the CEO was quoted saying, “the constellation will ultimately be scaled and maintained using our kinetic launch technology, once operational. The orbital launch system and initial deployment of the constellation are parallel tracks to ensure the commissioning of each have independent critical paths and risk profiles. Launching initially on traditional rockets accelerates deployment, proving value and performance early while building toward the long-term vision”.
It’s clear, based on these comments, that the company is well aware that if they want anything in orbit within the next few years, they will need conventional rockets. In April, in a different quote, the CEO said, “We’re currently engaged with a multitude of launch providers, and there’s certainly a number of available launch systems.”
With all things considered, it seems that the constellation is the main priority for the company right now, even considering the lease. However, without its own system to launch the satellites, it could become a very costly endeavor. In theory, the company might be hoping to increase its income from the constellation to then with that, help fund the creation of an Orbital Accelerator.
Even still, assuming funding isn’t an issue, there’s a big difference between operating the suborbital test bed, and an actual Orbital Accelerator. The stress put on the payload during the launch process is immense. To put it in perspective, on the last test flight years ago, four partner payloads, as well as two instrumentation payloads, were flown on the Suborbital Accelerator Flight Test Vehicle.
As part of the pre-flight qualification process, SpinLaunch accelerated payloads up to 10,000G in SpinLaunch’s 12-meter Lab Accelerator at its Long Beach headquarters. Payloads were inspected post-spin and subsequently integrated into the Flight Test Vehicle in preparation for Flight Test 10.
In a statement regarding that test flight, they were quoted saying, “Two key goals were at the heart of the agreement: to better understand SpinLaunch’s payload integration and testing procedures, and gain insight into the mass accelerator launch environment. To fulfill this objective, NASA provided a Data Acquisition Unit to capture critical launch characteristics of SpinLaunch’s kinetic launch system. The sensor suite was equipped with two accelerometers in addition to a gyroscope, and sensors for pressure, temperature, and humidity. Prior to handoff, NASA performed their own thermal and acceleration tests to validate the unit would capture the desired launch environment data. After the NASA qualification tests, SpinLaunch conducted high-g acceleration testing on the same unit and confirmed function of the hardware in advance of the Suborbital Accelerator Flight Test” they said.
In the future, it’s possible we begin to see some actual construction in Alaska. In a final quote related to the recent lease announcement, the CEO said, “By leveraging Adak’s strategic location and infrastructure, we can accelerate the deployment of our Kintic launch system while contributing to the long-term prosperity of the region.”
Conclusion
After not hearing much from the company in many months, SpinLaunch announced that it has signed a lease in Alaska for the future Orbital Accelerator launch site. While that’s an important step, they estimate it will at least be years before we see anything coming together on the site.