Longshot, an aerospace technology start-up founded in 2021, is developing a launch system to shoot payloads, such as satellites, into Earth\u2019s low orbit.<\/p>\n
This ground-based kinetic launch system, or \u201cspace gun,\u201d aims to reduce the high cost of launching payloads into Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the US-based company announced it had leased a former U.S. Navy indoor cannon testing facility at Alameda Point from the City of Alameda.<\/p>\n
Longshot will utilize the highly reinforced former Navy facility \u2014 originally used for testing weapons like the Phalanx system \u2014 as its dedicated build-and-test center.<\/p>\n
The company plans to use the site to construct and test a massive, next-generation accelerator prototype: a 30-inch-diameter, 120-foot-long gun that is expected to be the \u201cworld\u2019s largest operational cannon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As per the company\u2019s website, this cannon will be to \u201cgradually accelerate a projectile up to orbital launch speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engineering inspired by WWII<\/p>\n
The Longshot system<\/a> is a ground-based accelerator that uses multiple injection stages to launch payloads at hypersonic velocities.<\/p>\n Reportedly, the concept of Longshot\u2019s launch system is inspired by Jules Verne\u2019s 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon.<\/p>\n The technology revives a concept known as \u201cmulti-injection,\u201d first used in the V-3 cannon<\/a> during World War II, which involved adding timed charges along a barrel to accelerate a projectile.<\/p>\n In its staged-injection system, Longshot replaces the traditional explosive charges with compressed gas.<\/p>\n This launch mechanism accelerates a payload along a tube, expelling it at high velocity just above the horizon.\u00a0<\/p>\n The theoretical goal is to achieve extremely high supersonic speeds, requiring only a small onboard booster rocket to complete orbital insertion for payloads such as satellites or supplementary equipment (it is not designed for human passengers).\u00a0<\/p>\n Although to reach space and stay in orbit from a near-flat trajectory, the company says the launch vehicle needs to reach speeds more like Mach 23<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mach 4 speed in testing<\/p>\n The company has completed over 100 launches<\/a> at its original Oakland facility, with recent tests achieving speeds exceeding Mach 4.<\/p>\n This progress has attracted significant financial backing, including funding from the U.S. Air Force SBIR program and a $4 million round from high-profile investors such as Starship Ventures, Draper Assoc., and OpenAI head Sam Altman.<\/p>\n Longshot is currently awaiting approvals to begin construction on a launch facility near the Tonopah regional airport in Nye County, Nevada.\u00a0<\/p>\n This planned site is intended to host a gun large enough to launch payloads into orbit, potentially. The proposed structure will be a steel tube with a 3-foot interior diameter, stretching over half a kilometer (within a one-mile-long, 100-foot-wide area), and feature multiple gas injection boosters along its length.<\/p>\n While tests are currently limited to catch boxes and berms, the company is pursuing permission for altitude tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reportedly<\/a>, a secondary business opportunity arises from the Nevada location\u2019s proximity to the Nevada Test Site: Longshot could use its launcher to supply the U.S. military with supersonic payloads for countermeasures testing.<\/p>\n However, Longshot\u2019s core mission is to provide a cheaper, infrastructure-based alternative to rockets<\/a>, transforming the economics of the new space age.<\/p>\n