Could a giant hypersonic potato cannon replace traditional rockets for space launches?

LongShot Space is developing a massive projectile launcher designed to fire payloads into orbit. While the technology is still in its infancy, the company is currently building a system for the Department of Defense to test hypersonic payloads at five times the speed of sound.

The concept relies on resurrecting hypervelocity accelerator technology to achieve orbital speeds at a lower cost than conventional rocket propulsion. LongShot Space, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, aims to scale this mechanism significantly to reach space.

While orbital delivery remains a distant goal, the company has secured a contract to construct a launcher capable of hitting Mach 5. This project serves the Department of Defense's need to test hypersonic vehicles. For a deeper technical analysis of how these distributed injection accelerators function, researchers point to the work of A. J. Higgins.

Source: Can A Giant Potato Cannon Throw Things Into Space Cheaper Than Rockets? Longshot Think so!