From Verne’s Cannon to…SpinLaunch?

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

Getting to space is hard. To achieve orbit, you have to reach escape velocity, which is about 11,186 m/s on our planet. Even to get to suborbital heights, such as Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic…it’s hard.

It takes a lot of fuel and part of the issue is you need fuel to move the fuel. Hence the long term interest in a potential alternative: Kinetic launch systems.

From the Earth to the Moon

In 1865, the French writer of hard science fiction, Jules Verne, wrote a novel in which he explored the concept of putting a man on the moon.

The book is From the Earth to the Moon. In 1865, rocketry absolutely existed. Rocket launchers were used in China in the 13th century. In the 19th century, rockets were being used routinely in warfare.

Verne knew about rockets and they were already being discussed as a possibility. William Leitch, in 1861, wrote the first detailed proposal for rocket spaceflight. While we can never ask him, my suspicion is that Verne read Leitch’s proposal and didn’t buy it.

Because in the book, he doesn’t have them fly to the moon in a rocket. He has them fired out of a very big gun.

Space guns or Verne guns have been studied ever since, but have not proved to be practical. The U.S.Ballistic Missile Defense…