When a rocket launches a payload into orbit, the overwhelming majority of its weight at launch is just fuel. After decades of space travel, a company called Longshot Space hopes to unlock a more efficient way to launch satellites into orbit.
The plan: Shoot satellites into space with the world’s biggest gun. To accomplish this, Longshot is designing its cannons to accelerate payloads using compressed gas. Unlike regular guns, which use one sudden burst, Longshot uses multiple bursts of gas to accelerate its projectiles through a barrel that, in its final form, will be miles long.
Launching satellites this way also requires satellites capable…
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