Only a third scale prototype at the moment and the company SpinLaunch has raised $150 million in investment. The centrifugal launcher spins the rocket in a vacuum to reduce drag and releases it at the right instant so it leaves the launcher at almost 7500 km/h. Once the rocket reaches a certain altitude, engines ignite to boost the projectile to an orbital velocity of 27,600 km/h. The advantage of the technology is that it dispenses with multistage rockets requiring enormous quantities of fuel, potentially reducing the cost of launching payloads into space.
