Start-up wants to make rockets greener

New York, Dusseldorf A snail-shaped building rises in the middle of the New Mexico desert. It is 50 meters high, higher than the Statue of Liberty. This is where the start-up Spin Launch is testing its method of launching rockets into space with virtually no fuel. The rotational movement in the snail should bring the missile to a speed of around 8000 kilometers per hour. Centrifugal force is also used to launch satellites into space,

The special feature: the rocket uses hardly any fuel. This saves money and weight. With SpaceX, customers can book cargo flights for satellites in an orbit of 400 to 600 kilometers altitude – at a price of 1.1 million dollars for 200 kilograms of cargo.

This is already considered extremely inexpensive in space travel. But Spin Launch aims to undercut SpaceX. “We can put it into a 400-kilometer orbit for half a million dollars,” says Jonathan Yaney, Spin Launch’s founder and chief executive officer.