#7: Nato Saichek - Shooting Satellites Into Orbit at Hypersonic Speeds

First Principles with Christian Keil

Nato decided against building a laser-powered rocket in favor of Longshot Space: a gun powered by pressurized air that can shoot payloads into orbit.

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(00:00) - Intro

(00:42) - Nato's Early Idea for a Laser Rocket at Astranis

(02:30) - Nato Initially Being Skeptical of Longshot's Gun Idea

(04:02) - Writing a Simulation that Showed a 4km Gun Could Reach Orbit

(05:43) - Deciding to Join Longshot Full-Time after an SBIR Grant

(07:22) - What Longshot is Building - A Massive Gun to Launch Payloads to Orbit

(09:40) - Comparing Longshot to Hyperloop and SpinLaunch

(10:52) - The Projectile's Trajectory after Exiting the Gun

(13:35) - Reasons for Choosing a Gas Gun over Railgun or Traditional Gun

(16:11) - The Critical First Moments after the Projectile Exits the Gun

(18:02) - Longshot's Plan to Start with Hypersonic Testing

(20:24) - Target Launch Costs of $10-$500 per kg, Orders of Magnitude Cheaper

(23:28) - Using Space Tugs to Enable Different Orbits from an Equatorial Gun

(26:08) - Drastically Lower Costs Enabling Things like Tractors on the Moon

(28:30) - The Path from Garage Prototype to Orbital Launch System

(31:44) - Traditional Rockets vs Gun Launch Physics and Engineering

(35:35) - Iterating on Burst Disk Design to Get Microsecond Timing

(44:04) - Going from Failed Mach 2 Shots to Mach 4 by Improving Projectiles

(46:54) - Doing Hypersonic Testing in a Converted Auto Shop

(49:14) - Iterating on Ways to Safely Catch Hypersonic Projectiles

(51:53) - Using High Speed Cameras to Analyze Projectile Behavior

(54:04) - Light Gates to Trigger Precise Timing of Barrel Accelerators

(56:40) - Parts of the System with High vs Low Confidence

(59:54) - Nato's Philosophy as a Generalist Engineer

(01:03:15) - The Elegance of Passive Analog Guidance like the Sunbeam Toaster

(01:07:17) - Being Okay with Initially Being Bad at Things to Become a Generalist

(01:09:30) - Preference for Working on Civilization-Changing Mega Projects

(01:10:26) - Conclusion

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Links:

• Christian Keil – https://twitter.com/pronounced_kyle
• Nato Saichek – https://twitter.com/natosaichek
• Longshot Space – https://www.longshotspace.com/

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