The Slingatron: A Sling-Railroad to Space
July 31st, 2013HyperV Technologies Corp. has developed the Slingatron, a device that uses a spiral track and centrifugal force to launch a payload into low Earth orbit. This device basically (from what we can understand, anyway) accelerates a payload around a spiral-shaped track up to escape velocity and launches that payload into space.
The team has a Mark II test model of the device which launches a steel block at 100 meters/second. Low Earth orbit requires about 7.6 km/second. The Slingatron payload would reach “tens of thousands of Gs” in reaching that speed.
The team is using the Kickstarter project to build and demonstrate a modular Slingatron five times larger in diameter than the previous existing Mark 2 prototype. It will be used to launch in our laboratory a 1/4 pound payload to 1 kilometer/sec.
The team is looking to raise $250,000 by August 22. The various pledge levels include rewards like credit on the team’s backer wall, an electronic book about the building of the device and Slingatron lapel pins. Higher pledges include commemorative key chains and bottle openers a tour of the workshop and and the chance to operate the Slingatron during the launch event. No word on whether a very high pledge would allow you to launch your arch-nemesis into orbit with the device.
