Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by YourCompanyHere 1105 days ago
sadly spinlaunch is bogus and the whole concept doesn't really work out. [0]

[0] https://youtu.be/9ziGI0i9VbE (Spinlaunch: BUSTED! by Thunderf00t)

2 comments

That video actually explicitly says that the concept _can_ work, he's just skeptical that the current company is likely to achieve it. I wasn't particularly impressed. Yeah, maybe spinlauch the entity _won't_ achieve it. Most people who try to do very hard things fail. But the only way we advance is because sometimes they don't.
Thunderf00t isn't science, it's a youtube channel who wants to get views.

He also busted Starlink because apparently technology costs never reduce, and single geostationary satellites have infinite bandwidth

YouTube channels are bogus, but he's not wrong. It's wildly unlikely. Any actual project would require not just a payload that can handle insane stresses, but also rockets for orbital insertion. Rockets that can handle those kinds of ludicrous launch stresses are hard to conceive.

I can't prove that it's impossible, but the gap between the requirements and even the most extreme conception of what's feasible is so immense as to basically dismiss out of hand. They're welcome to keep trying, but it absolutely will not happen soon and is not worth the level of attention it receives.